New Delhi, Dec 20: Lok Sabha on Wednesday passed three key bills that seek to overhaul the criminal justice system, with Union Home Minister Amit Shah asserting that the focus is on delivering speedy justice rather than handing down punishment.
Replying to the debate, Shah said the three bills – Bharatiya Nyaya (Second) Sanhita, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha (Second) Sanhita and the Bharatiya Sakshya (Second) Bill – also have a clear definition of terrorism and scrap sedition as a crime while introducing a new section titled “offences against the State”.
Members of the Congress, DMK, TMC and other opposition parties were not present during the debate after 97 of their colleagues were suspended from Lok Sabha for “unruly” behaviour in the House. While many opposition parties have been critical of the bills that seek to replace the IPC, CrPC and the Evidence Act, only a handful of non-NDA members, including Hyderabad MP and AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi, MPs of the Biju Janata Dal and Bahujan Samaj, were present in the House.
“I am astonished at how some people defend and save the lives of terrorists in the name of ‘human rights’. Remember, this is neither the rule of Britishers nor of Congress. This is Modi’s rule. “No arguments to save terrorists will be entertained here,” Shah said.
He also added that the Modi government has explicitly brought ‘terrorism’ under the purview of the criminal justice system. “We have changed the definition of Sedition from ‘Rajdroh’ (offences gainst the government) to ‘Deshdroh’ (offences against the Nation),” he said noting IPC Section 124, or the Sedition Law, has been repealed.
The purpose of the new law is “not to save the government, but to save the country. In a healthy democracy, everyone has the right to criticise the government, but we will not allow anyone to say anything demeaning about India,” Shah said.
“The sedition law made by the British, under which Tilak, Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Patel… many of our freedom fighters remained in jail for years and that law continues till date.
“When they were in opposition, they used to protest, but when they came to power, they misused it. For the first time, the Modi government completely abolished the sedition law,” he said.
Shah said the first duty of the state is justice. “Judiciary, Executive and Legislature are the three pillars of democracy. The makers of our Constitution divided the work among these three to give strong administration to the country. Today, for the first time, these three together will give the country a justice-centric criminal system and not a punishment-centric one,” he said,
Shah said the first duty of the state is justice. For the first time, laws are going to be made according to the spirit of our Constitution under the leadership of Modi, he emphatcally claimed.
The bills were first introduced during the monsoon session of parliament in August. (PTI)
