New Delhi, July 1: Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah Monday said that India would become the world’s most modern criminal justice system after the full implementation of the three new criminal laws.
Addressing a news conference in New Delhi, the Home Minister described the ‘Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita’, ‘Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita’, and ‘Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam’, which came into effect nationwide today as justice-oriented and victim-centric rather than punishment-orientated.
He said that in the new laws, priority would be given to justice instead of punishment, speedy trial and speedy justice instead of delay, and protection of the rights of the victims will be ensured.
Shah said that various misconceptions were being spread about the new criminal laws, which aim to create confusion in the minds of the people about these laws.
He said that every aspect of the new laws had been discussed extensively with different stakeholders for four years and no law in independent India had been discussed at such a length.
The Home Minister said that after 77 years of independence, India’s criminal justice system was becoming completely indigenous and these three new laws had been implemented in every police station in the country from today.
He said that these laws had replaced punishment with justice, speedy trial and speedy justice instead of delay.
Shah said that along with this, earlier laws only protected the rights of the Police but these new laws now have provisions to protect the rights of victims and complainants as well.
He said that the three new laws reflect the Indian spirit in the entire criminal justice system of the country.
The Home Minister said that there were many provisions in these laws which would be beneficial for the people of the country.
He said that in these laws, many disputed provisions which were continuing from the British time and were creating problems for the people had been removed and new sections had been added which were of relevance today.
Shah said that in these laws the priority of sections and chapters had been fixed following the spirit of the Constitution of India.
He said that the priority had been given to crimes against women and children.
The Home Minister said that by adding a new chapter with 35 sections and 13 provisions on crimes against women and children, the new laws had been made more sensitive.
He said that similarly there was no provision in earlier laws for the crime of mob lynching but in these new laws, for the first time, mob lynching had been defined and severe punishment provided for it.
Shah said that in the new laws, the law of sedition made by the British had been abolished.
He said that a new section had been added for anti-national activities in the new law under which there is a provision of severe punishment for those who damage the unity and integrity of India.
The Home Minister said that technology had not only been adopted in the three new laws but provision had also been made in such a way that all the technologies that would come in the next 50 years could be included in it.
He said that 99.9 percent of police stations across the country had been computerised and the process of generating e-records was already started in 2019.
Shah said that Zero-FIR, e-FIR, and chargesheet will all be digital in the new laws.
He said that the new laws also set a deadline for the completion of all procedures and that the full implementation of the laws would end the endless wait for justice.
The Home Minister said that justice up to the Supreme Court could be done in 3 years from filing of FIR.
He said that the new laws had made forensic investigation mandatory in offences punishable by seven years or more, which would help speed up justice and take the conviction rate up to 90 percent.
Shah said that to make forensic visits mandatory in the new laws, the government worked with a foresight and built the National Forensic Science Laboratory in 2020.
He said that trained manpower would be required for this purpose and in the country, there would be more than 40,000 trained manpower after three years.
The Home Minister said that the union cabinet recently decided to set up campuses of Forensic Science University and establish 6 central forensic laboratories in nine more states.
He said that the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam 2023 had also leveraged technology in the field of evidence.
Shah said that several provisions had been made to increase the credibility of electronic evidence.
He said now server logs, location evidence, and voice messages would be interpreted as evidence.
The Home Minister said that these three laws would be available in all the languages mentioned in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution and the court proceedings would also take place in those languages.
He said that the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Home Department of each state, and the Ministry of Justice had made a lot of efforts to implement these laws.
Shah said that in the new laws, sections had been added according to their relevance today and many such sections which were disputed ones had been removed, as they were creating problems for the people.
He said that, against a target of 12,000 master trainers to train about 22.5 lakh policemen on new laws, more than 23,000 master trainers had been trained with the help of authorised institutions.
The Home Minister said that 21,000 subordinate judiciary officials had been trained in the judiciary and 20,000 public prosecutors had also been trained.
He said that these laws were discussed in the Lok Sabha for 9 hours and 29 minutes in which 34 members participated and gave their views, while in the Rajya Sabha, it was discussed for 6 hours and 17 minutes in which 40 members participated. Shah said that a lie was being spread that the laws were passed after the expulsion of the Members of Parliament.
He said that the expelled members still had the option to come to the House and participate in the discussion to express their views, but not a single member did so.