Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday introduced three redrafted Bills in the Lok Sabha to replace the existing British-era criminal laws after withdrawing the three Bills that were introduced in August.
The new Bills incorporate the changes recommended by a parliamentary committee, the Minister said. He said the reintroduced Bills have changes in only five sections.
“Grammatical and language errors have been corrected. The Bills were examined at length by the standing committee and it was necessary to include the suggestions. There are no major changes. Had we continued with the old Bills, several official amendments would have had to be made, so we decided to introduce new Bills instead. Adequate time, 48 hours, has been given to members to study the Bills...We do not want to pass such important pieces of legislation in a hurry,” Mr. Shah said.
The Minister said the Bills would be taken up for discussion on Thursday. Speaker Om Birla said 12 hours would be allotted for discussion.
Under the Bharatiya Nyaya (Second) Sanhita Bill (BNSS), 2023 that seeks to replace the Indian Penal Code of 1860, the definition of terrorist act has been expanded to include “economic security” and “damage or destruction of any property in India or in a foreign country used or intended to be used for the defence of India”.
The Bill retains death penalty as punishment. The parliamentary committee, in its report tabled on November 10, said it had received several representations to abolish death penalty but left the decision to the government.
Damage to monetary stability of India by way of production or smuggling or circulation of counterfeit Indian paper currency, coin or of any other material has also been added as a terrorist offence.
The Bill in its earlier form that was introduced in Parliament on August 11 had for the first time defined terrorism in the general law though a specific legislation — the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 — already exists.
The new Bill adds the caveat that an officer not below the rank of Superintendent of Police shall decide whether to register the case under this Sanhita or under the UAPA.
In cases of rape, printing or publishing of any matter relating to court proceedings without permission has been made a punishable offence with imprisonment for two years. The judgments of the High Courts and the Supreme Court have been exempted. The earlier Bill had made the publishing of names of rape victims a punishable offence.
The Bill replaces “mental illness” with “unsound mind”.
Causing harm to mental health of a woman has been included as a crime under Section 85 of the Bill, which pertains to cruelty by husband or the relative of the husband. The Bill for the first time defines cruelty against a woman as “any wilful conduct which is of such a nature as is likely to drive the woman to commit suicide or to cause grave injury or danger to life, limb or health (whether mental or physical) of the woman; or harassment of the woman where such harassment is with a view to coercing her or any person related to her to meet any unlawful demand for any property or valuable security or is on account of failure by her or any person related to her to meet such demand”.
The minimum sentence of seven years imprisonment for mob lynching has been dropped and replaced with imprisonment for life while the maximum punishment remains death.
The Bill defines a “child” as any person below the age of 18.
The Sanhita along with two other criminal codes — the Bharatiya Sakshya Bill, 2023 and the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita Bill, 2023 that seek to the replace the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 and the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898, respectively, were introduced in the Lok Sabha on August 11.
They will now be replaced with the Bharatiya Sakshya (Second) Bill, 2023 and Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha (Second) Sanhita Bill, 2023.
The earlier Bills were referred to the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs on August 18 for consideration.
