INDIA Trends and Developments Contributed by: Sidharth Luthra, Aayushi Sharma Khazanchi and Sheezan Hashmi, Chambers of Sidharth Luthra
Chambers of Sidharth Luthra C-2 Defence Colony New Delhi- 110024 India Tel: +91 11 415 328 16 / 415 328 18, +91 415 328 1 Fax: +91 11 415 001 89 Email: sidharth@sluthra.in, secretary@sluthra.in
Overhaul of Criminal Laws in India Introduction
The challenges of modern society, the chang- ing nature of crime with economic liberalisation, the internet age and the use of electronic evi- dence have led to various amendments in the criminal law, and to some special laws, such as the Information Technology Act 2000 (Act 21 of 2000). However, after it came to power in 2014, the NDA-led government felt that these changes were inadequate. In 2023 (preceded by a Parliamentary Committee to review the three principal central laws dealing with offences, procedure and law of evidence), India’s Parliament approved the replacement of three key criminal laws, with the aim of getting rid of colonial era terms, crimes and concepts. The titling of the laws in the Hindi language was a stated reflection of the new India (or Bharat) that had come of age. The first set of bills introduced in Parliament on 11 August 2023 were found to have some structural shortcomings and were replaced four months later by three bills that were eventually enacted as laws: • the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (CrPC) was replaced by Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (Act 46 of 2023);
The practices and rules of evidence applied in criminal courts in India were developed in the 19th century by judges exercising “their pow- er to see that what was fair and just was done between prosecutors and accused”, as stated by Lord Devlin in Connelly v Director of Public Prosecutions [1964] AC 1254 (HL) at 1347-8, in a process that he said was “still continuing”. The Mughal empire ended in India on 21 Sep- tember 1857, with the surrender of the last Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar to Major William Hodson of the British East India Compa- ny’s Army. The Company’s rule came to an end in 1858 after the failed Revolt of 1857, and gov- ernance of the Company’s territory came directly under control of the British Crown. These politi- cal changes were followed by the enactment of the Indian Penal Code in 1860, the Criminal Pro- cedure Code in 1861 and the Indian Evidence Act in 1872 (applicable to both civil and criminal trials). In 1950, India evolved into a constitutional republic. The colonial era criminal laws were not overhauled at this time, nor were the laws syn - chronised with the fundamental rights guaran- teed by India’s Constitution.
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