India’s president assented Monday to three new post-colonial criminal law reform bills, paving the way for their enactment.
The president’s assent extends to three bills: the Bharatiya Sakshya Bill (BSB), Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), and Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). The BSB and BNS are slated to replace the colonial-era Indian Evidence Act of 1872 and the Indian Penal Code of 1860, respectively. Similarly, the BNSS will take the place of the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1973, which was predominantly rooted in colonial-era laws. The objective of these bills is to revamp the criminal justice system in India, which has long been governed by laws inherited from British rule.
India’s government previously withdrew the three criminal law amendment bills, which were introduced in August, from Parliament. However, they reintroduced the bills with revisions in Parliament’s lower house, the Lok Sabha, on December 12, 2023. The revised bills had passed through the Lok Sabha with a voice vote on December 20, despite the suspension of more than 100 opposition members amidst protests over a recent security breach. Subsequently, the bills were passed by the upper house of the Indian Parliament, the Rajya Sabha, on December 21, paving the way for them to be assented to by the president.
The initial bills were referred to a standing committee of the Indian Parliament for deliberations. The committee submitted its report on November 10. Some of the changes suggested in the report were accepted and incorporated into the revised versions of the bills. Nonetheless, apprehensions persist due to the inclusion of contentious provisions in the revised version, such as the inclusion of terrorism as an offence in the BNS under Section 113, raising concerns about potential misuse alongside the existing controversial anti-terror law, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
The Ministry of Law and Justice of the Government of India officially issued notifications on Tuesday in the Gazette of India, thereby enacting BSB, BNS and BNSS as acts and, consequently, bringing them into force as laws.
