India: Repressive new criminal legislation must be promptly repealed by the authorities.

Timmy Mabs | 1st July, 2024.

Today, three new criminal laws in India—the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhinayam (BSA)—replace three statutes from the British era. Amnesty International India's board chair, Aakar Patel, stated: 

"The effective realisation of the rights to freedom of expression, association, peaceful assembly, and fair trial would be severely hampered by the provisions of the amendments to and overhaul of India's criminal laws."

"It is incorrect that the Indian government has abolished sedition laws; on the contrary, they have been reinstated following a suspension by the Supreme Court of India in 2022. The BNS incorporates a new clause that reads identically to the previous sedition statute, making "acts endangering the sovereignty, unity, and integrity of India" illegal. It also raises the mandatory minimum sentence to seven years under the legislation. 

The laws as they stand will be used as an excuse to violate the rights of anyone who dared to tell the truth to authority. 

Amnesty International India's chair of the board, Aakar Patel

"Instead of just the first two weeks following an arrest, the police may now request 15 days of custody of an accused person at any point before the 40–60 day permitted remand period is up, according to the new Code of Criminal Procedure, or BNSS.

This ambiguity creates an ideal environment for torture and other cruel treatment. The BSA permits the admissibility of electronic records as evidence, much as the Indian Evidence Act. 

The new law allows for abuse since it lacks a strong data protection regulation and because the use of electronic evidence in the Bhima Koregaon and Newsclick cases has been established.

Background 

The BNS, BNSS, and BSA bills were introduced in the Indian Parliament on August 11, 2023, by the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs, to replace the 1860 Indian Penal Code, 1973 Code of Criminal Procedure, and 1872 Indian Evidence Act, respectively. 

The legislation were based on the suggestions of a national committee that the Ministry of Home Affairs had established in 2020 to review India's criminal laws. The Indian government asserted that a thorough consultation process was carried out, but the committee's lack of representation from civil society and from women was criticised, and its final report was never made available to the public.