Chandigarh: With the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government keen on pushing through new Bills to replace the Indian Penal Code, Criminal Procedure Code, and the Indian Evidence Act, Congress MP Manish Tewari cautioned that these new legislations are "extremely draconian" and will eventually turn the country into a "police state".
Tewari said that when the new legislation was introduced, all members of the opposition parties gave dissenting notes against the structure and concept of the bills.
"The NDA-BJP government had introduced bills in Parliament to replace the Indian Penal Code, the Criminal Procedure Code, and the Indian Evidence Act with a new set of laws.
Subsequently, that was referred to the Standing Committee of the Ministry of Home Affairs for the legislation to be scrutinised. While the legislation was being scrutinised, all the opposition members gave dissenting notes against the very structure and the concept of these three bills itself," Tewari said.
The Congress MP said that the three Bills completely "undermine" and "subvert" the fundamental freedom promised by the Constitution of India.
Listing out some examples of how the Bill undermines fundamental rights to citizens, Tewari said, "For example, the provision to extend police custody from 14 days to 60 days, the non-codification of the provisions with regard to bail."
The Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 2023, the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023, and the Bharatiya Sakshya Bill 2023 were introduced in the Lower House of Parliament on August 11.
These Bills seek to replace the Indian Penal Code (IPC) 1860, Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), 1973, and the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 respectively. (with ANI inputs)
