Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita to replace Indian Penal Code, here is what you need to know
Hyderabad: Come July 1, the Indian penal code(IPC) would be replaced with Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita,2023 (BNS). The BNS got the assent of the President Draupadi Murmu in December last year.
In connection with these changes, the Union government has issued three gazette notifications, informing the enforcement of three new criminal laws – Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) and Bharatiya Sakshya Act (BSA), these new laws would be replacing, Indian Penal Code, 1860 (IPC), the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (CrPC), and the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 (IEA) respectively.
What’s changed?
“The Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, which will replace CrPC, which has a total of 484 sections, will now have 531 sections. 177 sections have been changed, 9 new sections have been added and 14 sections have been repealed. The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, which will replace the IPC, will now have 358 sections instead of the earlier 511 sections. 21 new offences have been added in it, the term of imprisonment has been increased in 41 offences, the penalty has been increased in 82 offences, mandatory minimum punishment has been introduced in 25 crimes, there are provisions of community service as a punishment in 6 crimes and 19 sections have been repealed. Similarly, the BharatiyaSakshya Bill, which will replace the Evidence Act, will now have 170 sections instead of the earlier 167, 24 sections have been amended, 2 new sections have been added and 6 sections have been repealed,” as per the official note released by the Government.
Some highlights in BNS
As per the IPC, the victim can go to any police station and lodge a zero FIR, while maintaining the same, the BNS made it compulsory to transfer the case to the concerned police station within 24 hours.
While the IPC has only five types of punishments, including, death, imprisonment for life, imprisonment (rigorous and simple) forfeit of property, fine, now, the sixth type of punishment is introduced, which is Community service.
As per the BNS, A provision was made to ensure the visit of the Forensic Science Laboratory(FSL) team will be compulsory in crimes punishable with more than 7 years.
In the new BNS, the Sedition has been converted into treason. The offence of Sedition is replaced with treason. The offence of ‘Sedition ’ is eliminated and BNS penalizes “acts endangering the unity and integrity of India”, ‘Rajdroh ’ repealed with introduction of ‘Deshdroh’
As per the BNS, now the judge will have to give his decision within 45 days of the end of the case. Along with this, there will be only 7 days between decision and punishment. Mercy petitions can be filed only within 30 days of the Supreme Court rejecting the appeal.
As per the BNS, steps have been taken to rationalize remission of the sentence. If there is a death penalty then the maximum can be life imprisonment, it cannot be less than this. If it is life imprisonment, then 7 years punishment has to be served and if it is 7 years or more, then at least 3 years have to be spent in jail.
