House panel at odds over draft report on criminal law Bills

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 27

The parliamentary committee examining the three Bills to replace the existing criminal laws could not adopt its draft report as scheduled on Friday after opposition members submitted that they needed more time to study it.

Confident bills will be passed soon: Shah

• Speaking at a function in Hyderabad, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said he was confident that the three new Bills, replacing IPC, CrPC and the Evidence Act, will be passed in Parliament soon
• He said India is dispensing with laws made during the British rule and entering a new era with new confidence and new hopes

BJP members who form the majority did not seem to agree with the Opposition’s plea for more time to study so that the legislation is robust enough to serve the marginalised. The committee’s next meeting is now scheduled for November 6. The BJP members of the committee have indicated they will insist on the adoption of the draft report despite protests by some members from the Opposition.

The BJP members are also adamant to retaining the Hindi names of the Bills despite protests from the opposition, especially the DMK. Union Home Minister Amit Shah had introduced in Lok Sabha three Bills to replace the Indian Penal Code (IPC), The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 and the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 with Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, respectively.

The demand to extend the deliberations on the draft report was flagged earlier by P Chidambaram (Congress) and Derek O’Brien (TMC) who had written to Lal, pointing out that more time was required because there were three separate Bills.

Speaking at a function in Hyderabad, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said he was confident that the three new Bills will be passed in Parliament soon. “The three laws made around 1850 during the British era, which are the driving force of our criminal justice system, CrPC, IPC and Evidence Act — the government has made radical changes in the three laws and placed three new laws before Parliament,’’ he said.

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