The winter session of Parliament which kicks off on 4 December promises to be marked by ‘grand gestures’. One such is likely to be the passage of three new Sanhitas — Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), Bharatiya Sakshya Sanhita (BSS) and Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) — which seek to replace the Indian Penal Code (IPC) 1860, the Indian Evidence Act 1872, and the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) 1973. These were scrutinised by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs in a record time of less than two months.
The Opposition’s plea for further consultations and more time to study the provisions were brushed aside, even as jurists flagged concerns that stakeholders such as district and high courts, bar associations, former judges, and reputable legal scholars were not consulted.
In his piece in The Telegraph, Supreme Court advocate Sanjay Hegde called it ‘Code Modi’ ala ‘Code Napoleon’. The new sanhitas would be, he wrote, “an exercise in futility, accompanied by great unnecessary aggravation in a manner reminiscent of the government’s demonetisation exercise. A leader fond of grand gestures often rushes to make the gesture and record it, regardless of necessity or consequence”.
While introducing the three bills on 18 August, Union home minister Amit Shah had waxed eloquent on the need to decolonise the Indian criminal justice system. It was a shame for an independent country to bear the burden of oppressive laws formulated by their colonial masters, he said.
“I would have accepted this justification if the new sanhitas treated Indian citizens as the masters or at least as equals,” said Hegde in a conversation with author and commentator Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
The standing committee report, ironically, admits that of the 511 sections in the IPC, only 24 were actually deleted and 22 new sections added. The IPC remains, by and large, the same as drafted by Macaulay 163 years ago. Virtually all the 170 sections of the Indian Evidence Act have also been retained, as has 95 per cent of the CrPC. The sections have been rearranged and renumbered. Some have been redefined.
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