Law-making is a long and continuous process. It begins with societies discovering the need to regulate human activities as in an identified area; then legislators pass the law and finally the judiciary ensures it is practised. New interpretations and amendments happen to every law as time passes.
The Indian Parliament has started the process of repealing three laws that regulate administration of criminal justice in this country — the Indian Penal Code, 1860, the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 and the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 — and replacing these with the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita and the Bharatiya Sakshya Bill, respectively.
British-era laws have undergone several changes since Independence through various amendments brought in by Parliament and in some cases, the state governments. The CrPC went through a major overhaul in 1973. While it is welcome that the laws are reworked to reflect the realities of changing times, it is imperative that society takes part in the discussion on them in a meaningful way so that the exercise serves its purpose. It has already been pointed out that the states, which collectively make up the Union of India, have a major say in the formulation of the criminal laws and that their views must be taken into account.
The Union government, however, appears in no mood to listen to such voices. The parliamentary standing committee on home which is expected to study the drafts and report to Parliament started its meeting on this bill on Thursday despite a plea by Opposition members that they had a very short notice on the meeting and needed more time to study before attending the parleys.
The NDA government has a fancy for introducing momentous changes without doing its homework. Two such mammoth initiatives were demonetisation and the launch of the Goods and Services Tax. A repeat show with respect to criminal laws would be calamitous. The government should not rush through the passage of the bills and instead launch an exhaustive consultation programme, get the opinion of as many stakeholders as possible and make the drafts foolproof before tabling them in Parliament.
