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 was a Senior Resident Fellow and led 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 is Senior Resident Fellow and Lead with the Crime and Punishment 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 is a Senior Resident Fellow with the Crime & Punishment Team at Vidhi. Her work focuses on mapping of India's criminal law landscape and developing a framework for principle based criminal law making. Prior to joining Vidhi, she worked at Nirma University and National Forensic Sciences University, Gandhinagar. She writes regularly for various national media outlets like Times of India, the Deccan Herald, Economic and Political Weekly etc. She graduated from National University of Law, Punjab (RGNUL) and obtained her Masters from the Indian Law Institute, Delhi. She is currently pursuing her doctoral studies at National Law Institute University, Bhopal, where her research is focused on violence against sexual minorities.