India’s New Criminal Laws: A Substantive Analysis
To analyse certain key provisions in India’s three new criminal laws, particularly where the laws retain problematic definitions, expand police powers, and expedite procedures without safeguards.
Process
This project analyses specific provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam. It qualitatively analyses provisions where there are new additions into the law and provisions where definitions have not been improved upon to harmonise them with judicial interpretations.
Insights
Under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, new sections including ‘acts endangering the sovereignty and integrity of India’, and ‘false and misleading information’, among others are defined in vague terms and have only widened the risk of arbitrary use of powers. There are several provisions, such as these, that the report analyses to highlight the gaps in the drafting of the BNS, and the reproduction of the very flaws that it was introduced to remedy.
The report also points to the expansion of certain powers under the BNSS, which are of concern. For example the time period that a person may be kept in police custody has increased to 90 days, expanding the scope of police powers. Another example would be the introduction of trial in absentia for proclaimed offenders, which the report problematises for its lack of sufficient safeguards.
While the BSA only has minimal changes compared to the Indian Evidence Act, the procedures for the verification of electronic evidence has been expanded, which the report critically analyses.
