New Delhi: Three new criminal laws — Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam — came into effect on July 1, replacing the colonial-era Indian Penal Code (IPC), Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and the Indian Evidence Act, respectively.
Union home minister Amit Shah, who piloted the laws, has said the new laws will end 475 signs of slavery and would give priority to providing justice, unlike the British-era laws that gave primacy to penal action.
According to the new laws, the judgment in criminal cases has to come within 45 days of completion of trial and charges must be framed within 60 days of the first hearing. The statement of a rape victim will be recorded by a female police officer in the presence of her guardian or relative and medical reports have to come within seven days.
Organized crimes and acts of terrorism have been defined, sedition has been replaced with treason and video recording of any search and seizure has been made mandatory.
Some key changes include a provision of 20 years of punishment in gang rape cases, and if the girl is below 12 years of age, there is a provision of death penalty. For mob lynching, death penalty or seven years imprisonment or life imprisonment has been added in the new laws. For the first time, snatching of mobile phones or chains from women has been defined in the law. These cases were earlier registered as theft.
The government has for the first time also brought a provision of trial in absentia of fugitive criminals and a section which allows the right to private defence against deadly assault, for instance in the cases of a mob attack.
