Senior Congress leader and former home minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday said the exercise of enactment of the three new criminal laws was a “waste” and has only created confusion in the administration of justice among judges, lawyers and the police.
Chidambaram also claimed the new Acts are an overwhelmingly ‘cut and paste’ exercise, with a few new provisions added.
His remarks came a day after Union Home Minister Amit Shah termed the enactment of the three new criminal laws as the biggest reform in independent India and said they will make the judicial process process not only affordable and accessible but also simpler, time-bound and transparent.
Indian cultural events stressed that the Narendra Modi government framed the new laws — Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BSA) — to ensure that all rights of citizens are protected and no criminal goes unpunished.
Hitting out at the government, Chidambaram said it has claimed repeatedly that the three Criminal Law Bills, now Acts, are the biggest reforms since Independence, but “nothing can be farther from the truth”.
“I had sent a dissent note to the Parliamentary Standing Committee that examined the three Bills, and it is part of the Report tabled in Parliament,” the former home minister said in X.
“In my dissent note, after comparing section by section the IPC, CrPC and Indian Evidence Act with the corresponding new Bill, I had asserted that: 90-95% of the IPC, 95% of the CrPC and 99% of the Evidence Act, have been cut and pasted in the corresponding new Bill,” he said.
Chidambaram’s assertion in his dissent note was not challenged in Parliament or elsewhere.
“I maintain that the new Bills, now Acts, are overwhelmingly a ‘cut and paste’ exercise, with a few new provisions added — some acceptable and some not acceptable,” he said.
“The whole exercise was a waste and has only created confusion in the the administration of justice among judges, lawyers and the police,” Chidambaram said.
Addressing an event marking one year of the rolling out of the three criminal laws, the BNS, BNSS and the BSA, Shah had said since all processes are online, nothing will be overlooked and justice will be delivered on time.
“These laws are going to transform the criminal justice system in the country significantly. I assure all the citizens of India that it will take a maximum of three years for the full implementation of the new laws. I can also confidently say that anyone can get justice up to the Supreme Court within three years of filing an FIR,” he had said.
The BNS, BNSS and the BSA replaced the colonial-era Indian Penal Code, the Code of Criminal Procedure and the Indian Evidence Act of 1872, respectively. The new laws came into effect on July 1, 2024. (Agencies)
