No guarantee police will not harass common man: Telangana HC advocate on new criminal laws

“It is a main drawback of the BNSS Act. Police can use it as an excuse to keep the man confined just to harass him mentally,” he said.

Hyderabad: The three new criminal laws, the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BSA) are taking effect from Monday. These laws repeal and replace the British era – Indian Penal Code, the Code of Criminal Procedure and the Indian Evidence Act.

The new laws, according to the union Home Minister Amit Shah will eliminate delays in the criminal justice system. While speaking in the Parliament, Shah had highlighted that the proposed laws focus on justice and protecting citizens’ constitutional and human rights.

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High Court Advocate, Khaja Aijaz Uddin said the new law grants more powers to the police and there is no guarantee the police will not harass a common man. The BNSS allows up to 15 days of police custody, which can be authorized in parts during the initial 40 or 60 days of the 60- or 90-days period of judicial custody.

“It is a main drawback of the BNSS Act. Police can use it as an excuse to keep the man confined just to harass him mentally,” he said.

Another point of concern among the human rights activists is the use of handcuffs.

The rights activists point out that the BNSS goes against the Supreme Court’s rulings of letting police use handcuffs in some circumstances. Handcuffs can be used on repeat offenders who have gotten away from police before or on people who are involved in major crimes like rape, acid attacks, organized crime, drug crimes, or crimes against the state.

“Already, the police handcuff the people and remove them only outside the court hall. Now with the BNSS validating use of handcuffs, there are concerns about possible violations of established court decisions about the use of restraints during arrests because this goes against established rules,” said advocate Shaik Chand Ahmed.

BNS replaces Indian Penal Code 1860

The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) that replaces the Indian Penal Code 1860, consists of only 358 Sections as against 511 Sections in IPC. Also, 31 new crimes have been added to the BNS, and 19 provisions of the IPC have been removed.

For 33 offences, the maximum sentence for jail time has been increased and for 83 crimes, fines have been increased. In 23 crimes, a mandatory minimum punishment has been put in place and ‘Community Service’ has been incorporated as a punitive measure for six minor offences.

One of the highlights of the BNS Act is it deals with mob lynching more seriously.

According to Section 103 (2) of BNS Act, mob lynching is if five or more people work together to kill an individual due to the reason of their race, caste, community, sex, place of birth, or any other similar reason, they will all be punished with death or life imprisonment.

The BNS has a new Section dealing with terrorism with acts of terrorism dealt under Section 113. There are various punishments relating to terrorism like for commission, abetment, inciting or supporting the offence etc.

“The women related offences have been kept at priority and put into the starting chapters so that their crimes are taken into harsh punishments,” said High Court advocate, Afsar Jahan.

The reforms brought in the three new laws include summary trials, time limits for filing charge sheets and completing investigations, and pronouncing judgments. Also, the law grants legal validity to electronic and digital records.