Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday introduced three amended Bills in Lok Sabha to replace the existing criminal laws for a holistic change in the justice delivery system but the discussion on them will begin two days later.

Withdrawing the existing three Bills to introduce the amended Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Bill, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita Bill and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam Bill, Shah told parliamentarians that instead of bringing several official amendments to include suggestions made by Parliamentary Committee on Home Affairs, the government chose to compile separate reworked legislations.

According to the Home Minister, mainly five sections have been tweaked besides other changes that mostly pertain to grammar and language of drafting the bills. Shah said the Bills have been tabled on Tuesday to allow members to study them over the next 48 hours before the discussion begins on Thursday and voting will take place the next day.

Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury suggested in the House that the three Bills should be referred to a joint committee for further scrutiny which the Union Minister did not agree on the grounds that the Standing Committee on Home Affairs Affairs has also looked into it.

Replac

Indian Penal Code, 1860 will be replaced by the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) Bill, 2023. Likewise, Bhartiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita Bill, 2023 will exit the Criminal Procedure Code, 1898, and the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 will be replaced by the Bharatiya Sakshya Bill, 2023.

The government has reintroduced adultery in the BNS Bill, which was struck down by the Supreme Court in 2018 on the grounds that it was discriminatory, overlooking dissent from opposition leaders like Congress MP and lawyer P Chidambaram. Before the judgement, adultery was a criminal offence defined in the IPC under section 497. The punishment of five years in prison or a fine, or both was for only men for having sexual intercourse with married women without the consent of husbands and attracted up to five years in prison, or a fine, or both.

According to the BNS Bill, now even “enticing” a married woman for sex has become an offence as per Clause 84 but the proposed punishment is less than that it was originally in the IPC. It would invite imprisonment of up to two two years, or fine, or both, as per the Bill. “Whoever takes or entices away any woman who is and whom he knows or has reason to believe to be the wife of any other man, with intent that she may have illicit intercourse with any person, or conceals or detains with that intent any such woman, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both,” Clause 84 reads.

Its not an offence, however, to have consensual sexual intercourse with unmarried women. The Bill, in order to streamline provisions relating to offences and penalties, gives precedence to crime against women and children, murder, and offences against the State. At the same time, some offences have been made gender neutral, said the government.

The Centre has enlarged the ambit of definition of “a terrorist act” to bring within jurisdiction offences committed against the state and people in countries outside India which would provide legal handle to government to deal with situations like Khalistani vandalising Indian High Commission office in London last year. “Whoever does any act with the intent to threaten or likely to threaten the unity, integrity, sovereignty, security, or economic security of India or with the intent to strike terror or likely to strike terror in the people or any section of the people in India or in any foreign country,” said the said the new definition. The fines and punishments for various offences have also been suitably enhanced.

It is also proposed to provide first time community service as one of the punishments for petty offences.

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