The Ministry of Home Affairs, on Saturday, notified that three Acts– Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, and Bharatiya Sakshya Sanhita – shall come into force on July 1, 2024.
The government issued three separate notifications for each new law, stating, “The Central Government hereby appoints the 1st day of July, 2024, as the date on which the provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, and Bharatiya Sakshya Sanhita, except the provisions of the entry relating to section 106(2) in the First Schedule, shall come into force.”
These laws were passed by the Indian Parliament on December 21, 2023, and subsequently received Presidential assent on December 25, 2023. They were published in the official gazette on the same day.
Earlier, the Bar Council of India (BCI) issued a statement, expressing that these criminal laws aim to replace the existing body of criminal laws in India. The BCI appreciated the removal of colonial and outdated criminal laws, such as the sedition section, fostering a more inclusive and democratic legal environment by respecting freedom of expression.
The BCI recognized the introduction of provisions addressing contemporary challenges, including the categorization of mob lynching as a separate offense, encompassing hate crimes based on race, caste, community, sex, language, or place of birth. Effective implementation and victim support will be critical, and sensitivity training for police and judiciary could help ensure unbiased and trauma-informed handling of such cases.
On the issue, Adish Aggarwala, President of the Supreme Court Bar Association, remarked on Thursday that many colonial-era laws had been hanging around like an albatross around the neck of the Indian legal fraternity even 75 years after Independence.
Aggarwala also mentioned that the entire lawyer fraternity across Bharat gratefully acknowledges and recognizes the beneficial aspects of the recast penal laws and pledges its unstinted support and cooperation to make this historic effort of the union government a success, as stated in a media statement issued.
(Inputs from ANI)