• The department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs in its 146th report had recommended that there is urgent need for a comprehensive review of the criminal justice system of the country.
• The Parliamentary Standing Committee in its 111th and 128th reports had highlighted the need for reforms in criminal laws by enactment the whole legislation instead of piecemeal amendments in existing acts.
• The judgments of the Supreme Court (SC) in the 2012 Nirbhaya gang-rape has highlighted the need of amendments to the three main existing criminal laws. 
• Prof. Ranbir Singh committee formed in 2020 to suggest reforms in the criminal laws lacked diversity, transparency, and was an all-male committee.
• It also lacked other vulnerable groups such as Dalits, religious minorities, adivasis, LGBTQ persons, or persons with disabilities. 

What are the three new bill and what will they replace?

• The Union Government has introduced three new Bills in the Lok Sabha to change the country’s criminal justice system.
• The three Bills will replace the Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860; the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), 1973 and the Indian Evidence Act, 1872.
• The IPC was introduced by the British in the year 1860, and it has governed India’s criminal justice system for more than 160 years.
• The IPC will be replaced by the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (BNS).
• The CrPC of 1973 will be replaced by the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS).
• The Indian Evidence Act of 1872 will be replaced by the Bharatiya Sakshya Bill, 2023 (BS).

Criminal law reforms committee:

• The Ministry of Home Affairs had constituted a committee in 2020 headed by Prof. Ranbir Singh to recommend reforms in the criminal laws of the country, which ensures the safety and security of the individual, the community and the nation.
• Prof. Ranbir Singh committee have to recommend the reforms that prioritises the constitutional values of justice, dignity and the inherent worth of the individual.
• Earlier formed panels like the Bezbaruah Committee, Viswanathan Committee, Malimath Committee and Madhav Menon Committee had recommended for general reforms in the criminal justice system.

Has the offence of sedition been repealed?

• The new Bill on IPC completely repeals the offence of sedition, which is present in Section 124A of the IPC.
• The provision on sedition has been reintroduced under a new name and with a more expansive definition for the offence.
• Part VII of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Bill is titled ‘Of Offences against the State’ and includes Section 150 which criminalises acts that may endanger sovereignty, unity and integrity of India.
• Punishment for such a crime under new law is imprisonment for life or with imprisonment which may extend up to seven years along with the fine.
• Section 150 enhances the alternative punishment to 7 years imprisonment from the 3 years imprisonment provided under Section 124A of the IPC. 
• The new Section 150 criminalises aiding through financial means any acts of ‘subversive activities or those encouraging ‘feelings of separatist activities.’
• This was recommended by the 22nd Law Commission of India.
• The BNSS, 2023 includes a corresponding provision for Section 150 in the form of Section 127 that outlines the procedure for when an Executive Magistrate receives information regarding ‘dissemination of any seditious matters’ as punishable under Section 150.

Recommendations of the 22nd Law Commission on sedition:

• The sedition should be retained but with certain amendments to curb its misuse.
• Section 124A of the IPC shall include the words ‘with a tendency to incite violence or cause public disorder’ and such term shall be defined as a ‘mere inclination to incite violence or cause public disorder rather than the proof of actual violence or imminent threat to violence.’

Supreme Court’s judgements on sedition:

• The sedition law under Section 124A of the IPC must be suspended until the Union government reconsiders the provision.
• The Centre and the State governments shall refrain from registering any First Information Reports (FIRs) under Section 124A IPC while the provision was under re-consideration. 

Provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Bill, 2023:

New provision and changes:

• This Bill seeks to replace the IPC by repealing its 22 provisions, changing its 175 existing provisions and by introducing eight new sections.
• It contains a total of 356 provisions.
• New provisions include-
• Section 109: Organised crime
• Section 110: Petty organised crime or organised crime in general
• Section 111: Offence if terrorist act
• Section 150: Acts endangering sovereignty, unity and integrity of India
• Section 302: Snatching

Rape provisions:

• The punishment for all types of gang rape will include 20 years of imprisonment or life imprisonment.
• The punishment for the rape of a minor will include the imposition of the death penalty.
• Sexual offences such as rape have been defined under the Bill as an act by a man against a woman or a child.
• The marital rape is not criminalised and Section 63 of IPC, which defines the offence of rape has been retained.
• Section 63 of IPC states that the sexual intercourse or acts by a man with his own wife, the wife not being under 18 years of age, is not rape.
• Section 375 of the IPC, which provides an exception to non-consensual matrimonial sex from the offence of rape is still pending before the court.

Mob lynching & deceitful marriage:

• First time capital punishment has been introduced in the Section 101 for the offence of mob lynching which is now punishable with more than 7 years of imprisonment or life imprisonment and fine. 
• The Bill criminalises sexual intercourse under the false pretext of marriage or by deceitful means under Section 69 with a maximum of 10-year imprisonment and fine.
• IPC did not have an explicit clause that dealt with the instances of sexual intercourse based on a false promise of marriage.
• Rather such acts were covered under Section 90 of the IPC, where consent obtained through a ‘misconception of fact’ was deemed invalid and accused can be charged under Section 375 for the offence of rape.
• The ‘deceitful means’ defined under Section 69 will include the false promise of employment or promotion, inducement or marrying after suppressing one’s identity.

Homosexuality and adultery:

• The provision for the offence of adultery has been omitted in line with the Supreme Court’s ruling in the 2018 case of Joseph Shine v. Union of India, where Section 497 of the IPC that criminalized adultery was held unconstitutional.
• The new legislation does not include any punishment for ‘unnatural sexual offences against men.’
• The Supreme Court had held Section 377 of the IPC unconstitutional as it had criminalised same-sex relations between consenting adults in Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India (2018).

Provisions of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita Bill, 2023:

New provision and changes:

• The Bill will replace the CrPC by repealing 9 provisions, changing 160 provisions and by introducing 9 new provisions.
• It contains a total of 533 sections.
• Section 230 has been introduced to ensure that a copy of the FIR is made available to the accused and the victim free of cost and within 14 days from the date of production or appearance of the accused.
• The Bill permits the filing of a zero FIR from any part of the country under which when a police station receives a complaint regarding an offence not coming in its jurisdiction, it can register an FIR and transfer it to the relevant police station for further investigation.
• Other changes in procedure include the facility for an accused person to be examined through electronic means, like video conferencing.
• Summary trials are made mandatory for petty and less serious cases.
• The magisterial system has also been streamlined.

Provisions of the Bharatiya Sakshya Bill, 2023:

• It will replace the Indian Evidence Act by changing 23 provisions and introducing 1 new provision.
• The Indian Evidence Act has been repealed as it had failed to address the technological advancement of the country during the last few decades.
• It contains 170 sections in total.
• The electronic or digital record as evidence is admissible and will have legal validity as documentary evidence.
• The secondary evidence includes: copies made from the original by mechanical processes, copies made from the original, documents against the parties who did not execute them and oral accounts of the contents of a document given by a person who has himself seen it. 

Significant modifications made by all the Bills:

• The Bills have several modifications including linguistic adjustments for gender inclusivity and replacement of terms such as ‘insanity’ with ‘mental illness’. 
• The Information and communications technology (ICT) applications are integrated with the criminal justice process. 
• The trial in absentia and the introduction of community service are commendable. 
• The attempted suicide is excluded from the definition of crime as per the SC directions.
• The use of forensic experts will be made compulsory in all cases where there is provision of jail term of seven or more years.
• This will be accompanied by strengthening forensic science infrastructure in all states and UTs.

Disadvantages of the bill:

• It is not certain whether the fundamental tenets of criminal jurisprudence are being upheld throughout this process.
• It can potentially infringe individual liberties as the bill lacks equilibrium between state security imperatives and individual freedoms.
• Criminal laws generally fail to discharge their public function as a protective tool for its subjects, which is not been covered under the new Bill.
• The principles of criminalisation may not be taken into account as it has not considered the harm or the moral or legal offence caused by such criminalised conduct. 
• It has failed to take into account the principle of equality and equitability as criminal laws in India is divisive in nature as the rich and the resourceful get better access to justice rather than the marginalised and the vulnerable.
• The level of leniency or severity of laws does not shape public confidence in the criminal justice system and thus it will fail to in bridge the gap between rhetoric of the law and its reality. 

     It is too early to state that whether the Bills will bring in some form of substantial changes in the legal landscape. The success or failure of criminal law reforms also significantly depends on their inception, formulation, and approach to their longevity and oversight. The primary principle for such an adjudication remains to the extent to which reforms address the needs and the concerns of the people impacted by crime and justice, especially in terms of enforcement of fundamental and statutory rights. The efficiency of the revised laws hinges on its capacity to curtail any potential misuse by law enforcement agencies effectively.