3 proposed criminal laws seek to provide justice rather than punishment: Shah

New Delhi, Sep 24: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday said the three proposed criminal laws are people-centric, have the flavour of Indian soil and their main purpose is to protect the constitutional, human and personal rights of citizens. Addressing the two-day International Lawyers’ Conference organised by the Bar Council of India here, Shah also said the approach of the three bills is also to provide justice rather than mete out punishment.
“Purpose of making laws is to establish an efficient system, and not to establish the supremacy of those who make the law,” Shah said at the event also attended by Supreme Court judges Justice Sanjeev Khanna, Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice PS Narasimha among others.
He appealed to all lawyers in the country to provide their suggestions to the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS-2023), Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS-2023) and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BSA-2023) so that the country can have the best laws that benefit all.
The three bills, which were introduced in the Lok Sabha on August 11, will replace the Indian Penal Code, 1860, Criminal Procedure Act, 1898, and the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 respectively.
“India’s criminal justice system was imprinted with colonial law. All three new bills do not have colonial imprint but have the flavour of Indian soil. The central point of these three proposed laws is to protect the constitutional and human rights of citizens as well as their personal rights,” he said. Shah said the initiative has been taken to comprehensively change the criminal laws keeping in mind the present-day demands.
“These laws are coming after almost 160 years with a completely new approach and new system,” he said, adding three more initiatives have been taken by the government to create a law-friendly ecosystem.
The first is e-courts, the second inter-operable Criminal Justice System (ICJS)and the third is adding new technology to these three proposed laws, Shah said. “With the introduction of three laws and three systems, we will be able to remove the delays in our criminal justice system in less than a decade,” he said. (PTI)