'Three Criminal Law Bills Will Establish Permanent Extra-Constitutional Emergency Powers'

On August 11, 2023 the Union Government introduced three new Bills in the Lok Sabha to replace the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Bill) the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 (the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam Bill) and the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 (the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita Bill).

G. Mohan Gopal, advocate in the Supreme Court of India and a legal academician, sits down with The Wire’s Sravasti Dasgupta to discuss the changes being brought through these bills and what they imply for the criminal justice system.

He says that while quantitatively, the bills only change some 20%-25% of the law in the three current statutes; what is crucial and requires very close public attention, are a dozen chilling changes to the law that have the potential to liquidate liberty, decimate democracy and fundamentally change the face of our polity from democratic to authoritarian should the government decide to deploy any or all of these changes to their fullest extent.

Watch:

You can also read G Mohan Gopal’s analysis for The Wire here:

https://m.thewire.in/article/law/the-...

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