Senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram on Tuesday reiterated his criticism of the three new criminal laws brought by the Modi government, saying the framework replacing the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) is "90 to 95% a copy-paste” of the previous provisions.


Under the new law, he added, only "the sections have been rearranged, causing immense confusion to the legal fraternity including judges".


Chidambaram, who was a member of the parliamentary committee that looked into the laws before they were passed by Parliament, said, "Please read my dissent note appended to the committee's report. It sets out on what provisions I dissented. Why should the existing CrPC be replaced? If some amendments are necessary and desirable, they could have been included by amending the existing CrPC. That is the position taken by the Congress and other Opposition parties."


He was responding to Union Home Minister Amit Shah's remarks questioning the Congress' criticism of the three laws that seek to reform India's criminal justice system. Shah had torn into Chidambaram's statement that, if voted to power, the I.N.D.I.A bloc would repeal the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) as well as the three criminal laws that seek to reform India's criminal justice system.


Shah said former home minister Chidambaram was a part of the committee that had assessed the criminal laws, and had given “positive” suggestions and even appreciated them. He said the three laws would make the country’s criminal justice system the most modern in the world. 


ALSO READ: 'Provisions Of CAA May Violate Certain Articles Of Indian Constitution': US Congress Research Unit


“Congress doesn't want results in corruption cases. It wants justice to remain pending. But the BJP's and Narendra Modi's policies are clear: every citizen has the constitutional right to get justice in the least amount of time. We are dedicated to doing that," Amit Shah said. “But BJP's and Narendra Modi's policies are clear - every citizen has the constitutional right to get justice in the least amount of time. We are dedicated to doing that.” 


#WATCH | Delhi: On Congress leader P Chidambaram's statement, Union Home Minister Amit Shah says, "Since the 1960s, Congress made appeasement politics its weapon to win elections. We had been fighting against this for years. Since 2014, PM Modi set the development agenda among… pic.twitter.com/D56x3snMPk


— ANI (@ANI) April 23, 2024


Shah also slammed the Congress for "trying to appease their vote bank" by promising to repeal the CAA.