Government confirms three newly enacted criminal laws effective from July 1

Starting July 1, 2024, three recently implemented criminal laws will be enforced, according to a government notification.

Commencing July 1, 2024, the Union Government has announced the enforcement of three recently enacted criminal laws: Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam.

These laws will replace the existing Indian Penal Code, Code of Criminal Procedure, and the Indian Evidence Act, having been passed by Parliament on December 21, 2023.

Following Parliament's approval of the three laws, President Droupadi Murmu granted her assent on December 25. As outlined in three identical notifications by the Union Home Ministry, the provisions of these new laws will be operational starting July 1.

The three criminal laws, which were initially introduced during the August Monsoon session of Parliament, received approval during the winter session and obtained the President's assent on December 25, 2023.

The government, in three distinct notifications, declared that these newly enacted laws would become effective on July 1. After the bills faced scrutiny and recommendations from the Standing Committee on Home Affairs, the government withdrew and reintroduced them during the winter session.

The Bharatiya Nyaya (Second) Sanhita, 2023, the Bharatiya Sakshya (Second) Bill, 2023, and the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha (Second) Sanhita, 2023, are set to replace the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Indian Evidence Act, 1872, and CrPC, respectively. The Prime Minister, in January, underscored that these new criminal laws were crafted with the principles of "citizen first, dignity first, and justice first." He emphasized a shift from relying on "danda" (force) to "data," urging the police to work with information and technology for effective law enforcement.

The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, in its revised form, includes offences like acts of secession, armed rebellion, subversive activities, separatist activities, or endangering the sovereignty or unity. Notably, the sedition law now explicitly defines acts of terrorism, a term absent in the previous Indian Penal Code (IPC). The new legislations also grant magistrates increased authority to impose fines and broaden the scope of declaring someone a proclaimed offender.