SUMAN K SHRIVASTAVA
Ranchi, January 7: The Jharkhand State Bar Council (JSBC) has welcomed the three new Acts -Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita, Bhartiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita, and the Bhartiya Sakshya Sanhita passed by the Parliament on December 25 last year.
In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, JSBC Chairman Rajendra Krishna has said the dream of a genuinely Indian criminal justice regime has finally become a reality under his (Modi) leadership.
“The Bar Council, in its commitment to justice, supports the enactments of the three Acts, acknowledging their positive contribution and advocating for a continual dialogue to refine and improve the criminal justice system in India,” Krishna has said in the letter.
Momentous achievement
Describing it as a momentous achievement, Krishna has said that the new criminal laws ushered in several progressive and desired changes in India’s criminal law structure.
“Under the new Acts, the law of sedition has been decriminalized, aligning with the growing ambit of free speech jurisprudence,” he added.
Adultery
Krishna has said that adultery has now been made a gender-neutral offence, promoting equality before the law as well as safeguarding against both sexism and discrimination.
Mob lynching
“The new Acts also address contemporary challenges in our society, including the categorization of mob lynching and hate crime murder as separate offences with stringent punishment to push the goal of deterrence against such heinous crimes. Moreover, these are more comprehensive laws to tackle acts of terrorism and false promises of marriage, he added.
The Bar Council, in its letter, has further said that the new criminal laws add a total of 20 new offences while deleting many obsolete provisions that existed in the Indian Penal Code.
Forensic investigation
“It also makes much-needed improvements by facilitating forensic methods of investigation and making videography compulsory at the time of search and seizure, further ensuring that the law punishes those who are genuinely guilty and that innocent persons are not victimized.
