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Published – June 30, 2024 09:22 pm IST – HYDERABAD
BRS leaders B. Vinod Kumar and others speaking against the new criminal laws in Hyderabad on Sunday.
The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) on Sunday said some of the provisions in the new criminal laws, which replace the Indian Penal Code, Code of Criminal Procedure and the Indian Evidence Act, are against the fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution. The new laws are coming into force on on July 1.
Speaking to media persons here, BRS senior leader B. Vinod Kumar, party legal cell convenor S. Bharat Kumar and senior lawyer Lalitha Reddy said change should be for good, but the new laws made by the BJP-led government at the Centre have provisions that violate the fundamental rights.
The Centre introduced the Bills for the new laws in August last year, and they were referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee for vetting. The committee went through the Bills and made several suggestions, which the Centre overlooked and got the Bills cleared by Parliament after suspending 160 MPs.
They said the new laws allowed the police to take up a preliminary inquiry without registering a first information report, and this could be misused by station house officers as they had been doing with the station bail provision. The new laws aimed at harassing the victims further, and they would incapacitate the judicial system.
Further, the new laws mandated handcuffs on the accused despite a Supreme Court ruling against the practice. Moreover, they also extended (police) custody period from 14 to 90 days.
Stating that senior lawyers and intellectuals across the country were opposing the new laws, Mr. Vinod Kumar said he had already filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court against the new laws. He said he had also written to the Union Home and Law Ministers on June 12 to repeal the new laws.
The Article 348 of the Constitution mandates the introduction of new laws in English, but the Centre named the laws as Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (IPC replacement), Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (CrPC replacement) and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (the Indian Evidence Act replacement) in Hindi/Sanskrit. They were difficult to understand for people from the southern states, Mr. Vinod Kumar said.
The Centre had written to the Bar Council of India and other bar associations not to protest against new laws with the assurance that all issues related to the new laws would be addressed. The Centre, however, was going ahead with implementing the new laws, he said and requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to postpone their implementation till the issues were sorted out.
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