New Delhi: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday flagged her concern over the Bills to replace the criminal laws and said the Union Home Ministry’s draft legislations to substitute the Indian Penal Code, Code of Criminal Procedure and Indian Evidence Act was an attempt to “quietly introduce anti-citizen provisions”.
In the Monsoon Session of the Parliament in August, the Centre had introduced three Bills — Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 2023, and Bharatiya Saksha Bill 2023 — that seek to replace the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) and Indian Evidence Act (IEA) respectively.
Taking to X, CM Banerjee posted, “Have been reading the drafts prepared by the Union Home Ministry to substitute the Indian Penal Code, Code of Criminal Procedure and Indian Evidence Act. Stunned to find that there is a serious attempt to quietly introduce very harsh and draconian anti-citizen provisions in these efforts. Earlier there was Sedition Law; now, in the name of withdrawing those provisions, they are introducing more severe and arbitrary measures in the proposed Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, which can affect citizens more gravely.”
The Bengal chief minister also said that if the government intends to overhaul the legal framework for the country’s criminal justice system, it should be done both in “form and spirit”.
“The current Acts should be decolonized not only in form but also in spirit. Urge the jurists and public activists of the country to study these drafts seriously for democratic contributions in the realm of the criminal justice system. My colleagues in the Parliament will raise these issues at the Standing Committee when these will be deliberated. Laws need to be improved in light of experiences, but colonial authoritarianism should not be allowed to have backdoor entry at Delhi,” CM Mamata Banerjee further wrote.