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New Delhi: On Saturday, in a notification the government said that the three new criminal laws, replacing the British-era Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Indian Evidence Act and Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC). These three laws were passed by both the houses of Parliament during the winter session. Later, President Draupadi Murmu approved all three new criminal law bills. These new criminal laws will come into force from July 1.
The three laws got the Parliament’s approval on December 21 last year and President Droupadi Murmu gave her assent on December 25. These three new criminal laws are the Indian Justice Code, the Indian Civil Defense Code and the Indian Evidence Act. These were made law after getting the assent of the President.
The laws will replace the colonial-era Indian Penal Code, the Code of Criminal Procedure and the Indian Evidence Act of 1872 respectively. According to experts, the three new laws will make the punishment more stringent for crimes like terrorism, mob lynching and crimes that threaten national security.
The three legislations aim at completely overhauling the criminal justice system in the country by giving definitions of various offences and their punishments. While 20 new crimes have been added to the Indian Judicial Code, 19 provisions existing in the IPC have been removed. The prison sentence has been increased in 33 crimes. In 83 provisions, the penalty has been increased, while in 23 crimes, mandatory minimum punishment has been provided and in six crimes, the punishment of ‘community service’ has been provided.
Major changes proposed in the new criminal laws include the introduction of the definition of child; Including transgender in the definition of ‘gender’, including electronic and digital records in the definition of document and expanding the definition of ‘movable’ to include property of every description.While presenting the criminal bill in the Rajya Sabha, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had said that after the implementation of these laws, the end of the ‘date-on-date’ era will be ensured and justice will be given in three years.
Describing these bills as historic, Amit Shah had said that with these laws, the rights of citizens will be kept paramount and the safety of women and children will be given priority. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, last year on the passage of the new criminal bills, termed it a watershed moment in the history.
