Concerns as India replaces colonial-era laws with new criminal codes
Al Jazeera
Government says overhaul will make country more just, but opposition fears it would throw justice system into disarray.
Opposition parties and lawyers in India are raising concerns over the government replacing colonial-era criminal laws with new legislation, saying the move risks throwing the criminal justice system into disarray.
India on Monday implemented an overhaul of the criminal laws, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government said would make the country more just.
The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 has replaced the Indian Penal Code, 1860; the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 replaces the Indian Evidence Act, 1872; and the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 has been implemented in place of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1882.
The new laws were approved by parliament in December during Modi’s previous term, with the government saying they aim to “give justice, not punishment”. It says they were needed as colonial laws had been at the core of the criminal justice system for more than a century.
Among the key changes is replacement of the sedition law frequently used as a tool of suppression, after its enactment under British colonial rule to jail Indian freedom fighters.
