Central government reintroduces criminal law amendment bills after making changes

NEW DELHI: The three Criminal law Amendment Bills, which were decided to be withdrawn after the Parliamentary Standing Committee proposed amendments, were presented in a new form by Union Home Minister Amit Shah in the Lok Sabha yesterday.

Bills will be debated and passed tomorrow. The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Bill (BAS), which replaced the Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860, the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita Bill (BNS), which replaced the Criminal Procedure Code, 1898 (CRPC), and the Bharatiya Sakshya Bill (BS), which amended the Indian Evidence Act, 1872, were reintroduced. Amit Shah said that some sections of the laws have been amended and grammatical corrections were done.

A parliamentary committee headed by BJP MP Brij Lal had suggested that the term 'unsound mind' should be used instead of 'mental illness' in the law. This is to prevent an accused person from escaping by claiming that he was under the influence of alcohol or drugs at the time of the crime. Amit Shah said that all three bills are aimed at protecting all the rights given to the citizens by the Constitution.

There are 533 sections in the BNSS Bill. 160 sections were amended, nine were added and nine were repealed. There are 356 sections in the BAS Bill instead of the earlier 511 sections. 175 sections were amended, 8 new sections were added and 22 sections were repealed. The Bharatiya Sakshya Bill, which replaced the Evidence Act, replaced the earlier 167 with 170 sections. The minister informed that 23 sections have been amended, one new section has been added and five sections have been cancelled.