Bills replacing criminal laws need consultations: Congress

In a statement, AICC general secretary Randeep Surjewala referred to as many as 18 changes proposed by the Home Minister, who had claimed that mob lynching has been criminalised for the first time.

Clause 150 of the BNS, 2023 proposes to make sedition law more draconian, says Randeep Surjewala.

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Days after Home Minister Amit Shah introduced three Bills in the Lok Sabha to replace the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), and the Indian Evidence Act, the Congress on Sunday accused him of “misleading” Parliament by claiming that some sections related to zero-FIR, e-FIR, hate speech and mob lynching were newly added. The party argued that many such provisions already existed.

Picking holes in the Government’s claims, the Congress also demanded that the Bills and its provisions must be thrown open for a larger public debate by judges, lawyers, jurists, criminologists, reformers, stakeholders and the public “in order to stay away from the trap of bulldozing the entire criminal law structure without discussion that is so ingrained in the DNA of the BJP government”.

In a statement, AICC general secretary Randeep Surjewala referred to as many as 18 changes proposed by the Home Minister, who had claimed that mob lynching has been criminalised for the first time.

Expert Explains | What does the proposed legislation to overhaul criminal justice system mean?

“Without naming mob lynching, Clause 101 of the proposed Bhartiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS) provides for punishment of murder committed by a group of five or more persons. The punishment includes death or life imprisonment or not less than seven years. Ironically, when such incidents were earlier covered under 302 IPC, the only two punishments were either life imprisonment or death. Giving huge concession to mob-lynchers, the BJP government has watered down the lowest punishment for mob lynching to seven years whereas the lowest punishment under the IPC for such crime was life imprisonment,” he said.

He said the Home Minister had claimed that hate speech will now be punishable with three-year jail whereas section 295A of the IPC already provides for punishment up to 3 years in such cases.

Similarly, he said, the Government has claimed that the new law defines terrorists and terrorism for the first time. Surjewala said various provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 enacted by the Indira Gandhi government defines a terrorist act and terrorist gang.

As for sedition, he said, the Home Minister had claimed that sedition is being repealed to protect freedom of speech. “It is most unfortunate that the Home Minister misled the people of the country from the floor of the House, as Clause 150 of the BNS, 2023 proposes to make sedition law more draconian than before,” he said.

“Section 153A of the old Code has been replaced by Clause 150 of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita-2023, which makes the definition of sedition even more open and wide, thereby allowing it to be misused,” he said. Surjewala said the Home Minister had misled Parliament when he said sexual offences against children will now attract the death penalty.

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“Under Clause 70 of the BNS-2023 Bill, group sexual assault on children has been made punishable with death penalty. This provision (of death penalty) is already in existence in The Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POCSO) enacted by the Congress UPA. Section 6 of POCSO, already provides death penalty in cases of sexual assault against children. Rest of the clauses pertaining to sexual assault against children are already a part of the POCSO Act, which provides punishment for life, not less than twenty (20) years, etc,” he said.

Surjewala said the claims on zero-FIR and e-FIR are also misleading. He said the Home ministry had way back in 2013 made it mandatory for all police stations to register ‘zero FIRs’ irrespective of their territorial jurisdiction. He said it was a brainchild of the UPA government. As far as e-FIR is concerned, he said the CCTNS (Crime & Criminals Tracking Network and Systems) system was inaugurated in 2013 by the then home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde.