Explore the evolving legal landscape, analyzing how societal, judicial, and legislative factors contribute to shaping India's legal framework.

1. Analysing the New Criminal Laws Impact on India's Modern
Legal Framework
Recently, the Lok Sabha passed three new Criminal Laws in India, which were intended to
replace outdated statutes and modernise India’s legal framework.
The Indian Penal Code, 1860 (IPC), the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (CrPC), and the
Indian Evidence Act, 1872 (IEA) are replaced, respectively, by the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita,
2023 (BNS), the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS), and the Bharatiya Sakshya
Bill, 2023 (BSB).
These bills aim to update the criminal justice system and modernise the existing legal
framework.
The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita introduces a distinct offence for the ‘Terrorist Act,’ covering acts
that pose a threat to India’s unity, integrity, sovereignty, security, economic security, or spread
terror among any group.
The offence of ‘sedition’ is eliminated, and BNS penalises acts endangering the unity and
integrity of India, replacing ‘Rajdroh’ with ‘deshdroh.’

2. The Object is on protecting citizens’ right to criticise the government while discouraging acts
against the nation. ‘Mob Lynching’ is introduced as a distinct offense, carrying a maximum
penalty of death.
Lacks in the Current Criminal Justice System of India:
Caseload: As to the National Judicial Data Grid, the Indian courts are now handling more than
4.7 crore cases at various judicial levels. Delays in the administration of justice, violations of the
right to a prompt trial, and a decline in public confidence in the system result from this.
Lack of Infrastructure and Resources: There is not enough money, personnel, or space for the
criminal justice system. Judges, prosecutors, police officers, forensic specialists, and legal
assistance attorneys are in short supply.
For a country of 135 million, there are only 21 judges per million population (as of February
2023).
The number of open positions in the high courts is around 400. Additionally, there are about 35%
of open positions in the lower judiciary.
Inadequate Prosecution and Investigation: The prosecution and investigative teams frequently
fall short of carrying out exhaustive, unbiased, and competent investigations. They deal with
corruption, a lack of accountability, and meddling from political and other factors.
Human Rights Violations: Accused parties, witnesses, victims, and other stakeholders
frequently claim that the criminal justice system violates their human rights. Torture in custody,
extrajudicial executions, erroneous accusations, unauthorized detentions, forced confessions,
unfair trials, and severe penalties are all examples of current events.
These laws are outdated and out of step with modern society. They don't cover contemporary
crime trends like organized crime, mob lynching, cybercrime, or terrorism.
What Actions Are Required to be Taken:
A more inclusive and thorough approach is required to address the issues and possible flaws in
the proposed revisions.
Before putting any reforms into effect, start a more extensive consultation process that includes
all relevant parties, including the general public, in order to take into account different points of
view.
Human Rights Protections: To prevent possible misuse, it is important to specifically include
human rights concepts and safeguards, as well as to define and clarify any ambiguous
terminology.
Coherent Legal Framework: Make sure that the proposed legislation and any laws already in
place are consistent and coherent.

3. Enhance the criminal justice process by integrating technology more effectively: Examples
of this include digitalizing the acquisition of evidence, holding proceedings online, and recording
statements on video to expedite trials, minimise backlogs, and improve transparency.
Investing In Infrastructure: Strengthening the court, legal aid services, and law enforcement
organisations through investments in infrastructure, training, and recruitment is known as
capacity building. Fair and effective judicial administration will result from having enough
resources.
Restorative justice: Adopt the restorative justice tenets of restitution, rehabilitation, and
reconciliation to address the underlying causes of crime, lower recidivism rates, and provide
victims closure.
We may move toward a criminal justice system that respects the rule of law, defends human
rights, and successfully meets the demands of its varied people by pursuing these progressive
measures as a country.
Importance of the Suggested Reforms in New Criminal Laws:
The goal of the change is to make the complicated and antiquated criminal statutes more
straightforward. The changes will reflect the evolving nature of crime, society, and technology,
as well as bring the laws closer to the spirit and ethos of India.
The harsh sedition statute under Section 124A of the IPC, which has been extensively criticised
for being abused against dissenters and government critics, would be repealed as a result of the
change.
In addition, the reform would create new crimes that the current laws do not sufficiently address,
like organized crime, mob lynching, terrorism, and corruption.
Through the inclusion of men and transgender people as possible victims and perpetrators
alongside women, the reform will render some sexual offences gender-neutral.
The change will result in a greater utilisation of electronic evidence and Through the reform,
forensics and electronic evidence will be used more frequently in investigations, prosecutions,
and adjudications.
By enabling residents to file a police complaint at any police station, regardless of where the
crime was committed, the reform will provide them more influence. Effective protection of
citizens' constitutional rights, including the rights to life, liberty, dignity, privacy, and a fair trial,
will also be ensured by the change.
These laws aim to update the criminal justice system and modernise the existing legal
framework.
Punitive versus reformative justice: By substituting community service for incarceration, the
Bills aim to shift the legal system in the direction of reformative justice. They do, however,
largely preserve the criminal justice system's current punitive nature.

4. Criminal versus civil jurisprudence: The laws keep a number of offences from the IPC and
CrPC that could be classified as civil disputes because they injure people rather than being
crimes against the state or the public.
Trial process and upholding public order: The Bhartiya Nagarik Suraksha Samhita contains
procedures for investigation and trial, as well as provisions on maintaining law and order. The
question is whether a law on criminal procedure should deal with maintaining public order as
well.
Overlap with special laws: The Bhartiya Nyay Samhita Adhiniyam 2023 retains several
provisions from the IPC, which have been incorporated in other special laws. Removing these
might help in reducing inconsistencies and administrative duplication. The Bills also add
provisions from other special laws related to terrorism and other organised crimes.
Age for criminal liability: The minimum age for criminal liability has been retained at seven
years, which is lower than the provisions in international conventions and other laws.
High proportion of undertrials in jails: The Bhartiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita retains the
current provisions in CrPC. It also prohibits bail for the accused if they have multiple cases
pending. It does not allow plea bargains to be struck for a lesser offence.
Court directives, including those pertaining to anticipatory bail and arrest procedures, are not
codified in the Laws. Additionally, the Bills do not include a number of recommendations from
high-level committees regarding the death sentence, bail, confessions, and arrests.
Obstacles within the institutions: Justice delivery is slowed down by a number of systemic
obstacles, including a shortage of forensic experts and open police positions. These issues are
not addressed by the Laws.
Drafting concerns: The Laws have multiple drafting mistakes, use out-of-date drawings, and
fail to address some gaps regarding offences.
Conclusion:
The New Codes have combined the provisions of the Indian Penal Code and the Criminal
Procedure Code to create unified provisions that simplify enforcement and provide clarification
on the applicable offences.
The implementation of stricter timelines and the provision of technology, audio-visual, and other
means for conducting various procedures during trials and investigations are reforms that are
sorely needed.
Adopting a strict trial in absentia procedure will enable prompt trial resolution against economic
criminals who avoid prosecution by avoiding legal jurisdiction.
However, the success of these changes will also need to be assessed in light of how national
courts interpret the New Codes after they go into force.

5. Through the pursuit of these progressive measures, our country may strive towards a criminal
justice system that respects human rights, maintains the rule of law, and efficiently caters to the
requirements of its diverse populace.