a hammer and justice
  • Bills, Reforms, Regulations
  • 10 Nov 2023
  • 1 min read

Comments on the New Criminal Law Bills

On 11th of August 2023, three landmark Bills were tabled in the Lok Sabha. Brought to replace the colonial era Indian Penal Code, 1860, the Indian Evidence Act, 1872  and the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, these Bills purport to transform India’s criminal justice system, eliminate signs of slavery, and lay the foundation of the criminal justice system in ‘justice’ and not ‘punishment’.

In this note, we examine the aims and objectives of the three Bills, the key provisions that have been introduced and make recommendations for suitable amendments to the Bills.

We rely primarily on our data backed understanding of the issues plaguing the criminal justice system, frameworks for principle based criminal law-making and international best practices for reforming criminal laws.

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About the Authors
Neha Singhal

Neha Singhal is a Senior Resident Fellow and leads work in the area of Criminal Justice, and is researching on the criminalisation of drug use in India. She has authored the report titled “From Addict to Convict - The Working of The NDPS Act in Punjab”. She was the Deputy Director of the Death Penalty Research Project at NLU, Delhi. She has also taught courses on legal history and humanitarian law at NLU, Delhi, She graduated from the National Law School of India University in 2008 and completed her Masters in Criminal Justice from the University of Kent, Canterbury in 2010.

Naveed Mehmood Ahmad

Naveed is a Senior Resident Fellow with the Criminal Justice Team at Vidhi. His work focuses on decriminalisation of India's legislative landscape and reimagining India's approach towards Crime & Punishment. Previously, Naveed has worked on criminalisation of drug use and evaluated the government response to increasing violence against women. Naveed holds an undergraduate degree in law from National University of Law, Punjab and a Masters in Law from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai.

Ayushi Sharma

Ayushi is a Research Fellow in the Criminal Justice Reforms team at Vidhi. Prior to joining Vidhi, Ayushi worked at Nirma University as an Assistant Professor and National Forensic Sciences University, Gandhinagar as a Teaching and Research Associate. She has also worked with the Logistic Division, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, and advised on issues related to Maritime Regulatory Framework. Ayushi graduated from Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law, Punjab (RGNUL) in 2018 with a BA., LL. B (Hons.) and obtained her LLM degree in Constitutional and Administrative Laws from the Indian Law Institute, Delhi in 2019. She is currently pursuing her doctoral studies at National Law Institute University, Bhopal (NLIU) where her research is focused on violence against sexual minorities.

Aayush Mallik
Sriyanshi Bhatt

Sriyanshi is a Research Fellow with the Criminal Justice Team at Vidhi. She has recently graduated from Jindal Global Law School with a BA LLB (Hons.). Before joining Vidhi, she briefly worked with Centre for Social Justice which provided her the opportunity to work in close collaboration with various stakeholders operating within Human Rights delivery framework(s). As a law student, she has interned with the Centre of Law, Justice and Society, People's Union of Civil Liberties (Delhi), and Alternative Law Forum, focusing on the interaction of vulnerable groups with the law.

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