India’s new criminal laws promised to modernise the criminal justice system, improve efficiency, and strengthen accountability. But nearly a year into implementation, an important question remains: how are these reforms functioning in practice?

At the launch of Procedure in Practice, the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy brought together leading voices from the judiciary, legal profession, and law enforcement to discuss the realities of implementing the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) and India’s new criminal procedure framework. The panel featured Justice Gita Mittal (Retd.), Dinkar Gupta, IPS (Retd.), Rebecca John, Bharat Chugh and Neha Singhal who shared insights on the opportunities and challenges emerging from the implementation of the new criminal laws.

Their discussion examined procedural reform, institutional readiness, accountability mechanisms, investigative practices, and the day-to-day realities of criminal justice administration. As India navigates one of the most significant criminal law reforms in recent decades, understanding how these changes are being experienced on the ground is critical to evaluating their impact.