The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)

New Sanhitas come into effect today

10yearsinj­ail);‘moblynchin­g’on the ground of race, caste or community, sex... (life sentence or death penalty); snatching (up to 3 years in jail) to bringing in stringenta­nti-terror,organisedc­rimes under its ambit.

Under the Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), the law extends detention in police custodyfro­mthecurren­t15-daylimit under the CRPC to up to 90 days. Thisprolon­gedpre-trialdeten­tion for ordinary penal offences has raised concerns about personal liberty.

While the IPC, CRPC and Evidence Act will continue to operate for all offences committed before July 1 for all stages of litigation, the new Sanhitas will apply for offences committed after the gazette notificati­on kicks in.

Thethreela­wswerepass­edby Parliament in December through a voice vote in both Houses when many Opposition MPS were under suspension.

A week before the laws were to be rolled out, two Chief Ministers of Opposition-ruled states–mamatabane­rjeeofwest Bengal and M K Stalin of Tamil Nadu – had written to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, seeking to defer the implementa­tion of the laws. Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, objecting to the titles of the laws, cited Article 348 of the Constituti­onwhichsta­testhatleg­islationsi­ntroducedi­nparliamen­t must be in English.

Karnatakah­asalsorais­edconcerns over some of the key provisions – from allowing a police officer 14 days for a preliminar­ily investigat­ionbeforer­egistering­an FIR and the total exclusion of Section 377 of the IPC which is invoked now in cases of sexual assault of a man.

In preparatio­n for the new laws, the Uttar Pradesh government on June 25 approved the proposal to bring an ordinance to make some exceptions in the anticipato­rybailprov­isionsandb­ring state amendments to a host of public security laws including the UP Gangsters and Anti-social activities(prevention)act,1986;the UP Control of Goondas Act, 1970; the UP Recovery of Damages to Public and Private Property Act, 2020; the UP Dacoity Affected Areas Act, 1983; the UP Special Security Force Act, 2020; and UP Prohibitio­n of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021.

Themhaalso­issuedagaz­ette notificati­on for Union Territorie­s, assigning the powers granted to the states under the three news laws, to Lieutenant Governors for “better discharge of duties”.