{"id":259410,"date":"2023-09-09T19:33:06","date_gmt":"2023-09-09T14:03:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=259410"},"modified":"2023-09-09T19:33:06","modified_gmt":"2023-09-09T14:03:06","slug":"an-overhaul-the-criminal-law-bills-and-the-big-picture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/an-overhaul-the-criminal-law-bills-and-the-big-picture\/","title":{"rendered":"An overhaul, the criminal law Bills, and the big picture"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Source<\/b><\/strong>– The post is based on the article \u201cAn overhaul, the criminal law Bills, and the big picture\u201d <\/b><\/strong>published in \u201cThe Hindu\u201d <\/b><\/strong>on 9th September 2023<\/b><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Syllabus: <\/b><\/strong>GS2- Indian Polity<\/p>\n

Relevance- <\/b><\/strong>Important bills and acts<\/p>\n

News<\/b><\/strong>– The central government has introduced three Bills in Parliament in August called the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023 and the Bharatiya Sakshya (BS) Bill, 2023.<\/p>\n

What are provisions in BNSS on registration of FIR and conducting inquiry?<\/b><\/strong><\/h2>\n

The BNSS includes a provision regarding the registration of cognisable offenses <\/b><\/strong>at any police station, regardless of the location<\/b><\/strong>\u00a0of committed offense. This practice is known as recording a First Information Report at Zero. <\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n

A new provision has been introduced to allow for a preliminary inquiry<\/b><\/strong>\u00a0to determine the presence of a prima facie case. <\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n

This should be done even when the information suggests the commission of a cognisable offense <\/b><\/strong>punishable with imprisonment between three to seven years. <\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n

This diverges from the\u00a0Supreme Court’s ruling in Lalita Kumari versus Govt. of Uttar Pradesh (2013).<\/b><\/strong>\u00a0SC mandated the mandatory registration of an FIR<\/b><\/strong>\u00a0when a cognisable offense is disclosed.<\/p>\n

This clause has both advantages and disadvantages. Parties in dispute may reach a compromise<\/b><\/strong>\u00a0within the 14-day timeframe<\/b><\/strong>\u00a0allotted for a\u00a0preliminary inquiry.<\/b><\/strong>\u00a0But, the police might misuse this period to avoid registering even valid cases.<\/p>\n

What are provisions in BNSS related to arrest of accused and issues related to them?<\/b><\/strong><\/h2>\n

All provisions of the CrPC on arrest <\/b><\/strong>have been retained in the BNSS.<\/p>\n

A new clause stipulates that for offenses<\/b><\/strong>\u00a0carrying a\u00a0sentence of less than three years of imprisonment,<\/b><\/strong>\u00a0an arrest can only be made with prior permission<\/b><\/strong>\u00a0from the Deputy Superintendent of Police. It is for individuals who are\u00a0infirm or aged over 60. <\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n

The new Codes allow for\u00a0handcuffing i<\/b><\/strong>n at least a dozen categories of persons accused of serious offenses, including terrorist acts, murder, rape, acid attacks, or offenses against the state. This is likely to aid the police in\u00a0securing the custody <\/b><\/strong>of such individuals.<\/p>\n

However, the\u00a0enabling section<\/b><\/strong>\u00a0guiding handcuffing remains unchanged. It states that “the person arrested shall not be subjected to more restrain<\/b><\/strong>t than is necessary to prevent his escape.” <\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n

Therefore, the investigating officer will still need to justify handcuffing<\/b><\/strong>\u00a0based on the\u00a0potential for escape or physical harm <\/b><\/strong>when these criminals are presented before the court.<\/p>\n

The new Sanhita introduces a requirement for a\u00a0forensic expert <\/b><\/strong>to visit the crime scene and collect forensic evidence<\/b><\/strong>\u00a0in cases where the punishment is more than seven years of imprisonment. <\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n

However, the new code has recognized the\u00a0practical limitations<\/b><\/strong>\u00a0of\u00a0limited forensic infrastructure<\/b><\/strong>\u00a0at the ground level. State governments have been granted a maximum of five years to implement this provision.<\/p>\n

The Sanhita promotes the use of audio and video recording<\/b><\/strong>\u00a0during various stages of investigations, including searches. However, the preferred use of smartphones<\/b><\/strong>, as recommended, has its limitations.<\/p>\n

In the case of\u00a0Shafhi Mohammad vs. The State Of Himachal Pradesh (2018)<\/b><\/strong>, the Supreme Court directed the Ministry of Home Affairs and states to establish\u00a0facilities for the videography and photography<\/b><\/strong>\u00a0of crime scenes during\u00a0police station-level investigations. <\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n

What is criticism against BNSS code?<\/b><\/strong><\/h2>\n

The ban on the two-finger test<\/b><\/strong>\u00a0in cases of rape is not explicitly included in the Code. The Supreme Court has declared in the Lillu @ Rajesh & Anr vs. State Of Haryana (2013) <\/b><\/strong>case that this test is unscientific <\/b><\/strong>and violates the\u00a0dignity and privacy <\/b><\/strong>of rape victims.<\/p>\n

Regarding the disclosure of the identity of rape victims<\/b><\/strong>, the provision allowing authorization to the next of kin<\/b><\/strong>\u00a0when the victim is a minor needs reconsiderstion.<\/p>\n

This is because the\u00a0Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act<\/b><\/strong>\u00a0exclusively addresses this issue and does not include a similar provision.<\/p>\n

The Supreme Court, in the case of\u00a0Nipun Saxena vs. Union Of India (2018)<\/b><\/strong>\u00a0expressed reservations about delegating such authority<\/b><\/strong>\u00a0to the next of kin.<\/p>\n

One provision in the Sanhita that has drawn criticism is the extension of the period of police custody <\/b><\/strong>beyond the 15 days stipulated in the CrPC.<\/p>\n

This extension allows the police to re-interrogate<\/b><\/strong>\u00a0an accused individual if additional evidence <\/b><\/strong>surfaces during an investigation.<\/p>\n

What are some positive aspects of the BNSS code?<\/b><\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Sanhita proposes broadening the scope of judicial inquiry<\/b><\/strong>\u00a0into\u00a0suspicious deaths<\/b><\/strong>\u00a0to include dowry-related deaths. <\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n

A useful addition that could have been included in the Sanhita relates to\u00a0videography and photography of post-mortems,<\/b><\/strong>\u00a0especially in cases of\u00a0custodial deaths or deaths resulting from encounters. <\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Supreme Court and the National Human Rights Commission of India<\/b><\/strong>\u00a0have consistently urged states to comply with such directives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source– The post is based on the article \u201cAn overhaul, the criminal law Bills, and the big picture\u201d published in \u201cThe Hindu\u201d on 9th September 2023. Syllabus: GS2- Indian Polity Relevance- Important bills and acts News– The central government has introduced three Bills in Parliament in August called the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, the… Continue reading An overhaul, the criminal law Bills, and the big picture<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[212,10498],"class_list":["post-259410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-gs-paper-2","tag-the-hindu","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259410","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259410"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259410\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}