A day after the three criminal laws received President’s assent and were notified in the official gazette, confusion prevailed in police stations and courts regarding its implementation, according to several police officials.
The three legislation replace the British-era laws but in the absence of the required paraphernalia on the ground and adequate training of police officials, it will be several months for the Acts to be effective.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah said in Chandigarh on December 22 that the framework to implement the laws in all the union territories would be ready by December 2024.
“By December 2024, the work of infrastructure, software, training of human resources and complete computerisation of courts will be done for implementation of these three laws in all the union territories,” Mr. Shah said. He added that a meeting in all union territories — Delhi, Lakshwadeep, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Chandigarh, Puducherry, Jammu and Kashmir — would be held before January 31, 2024 to fully prepare them to implement the laws by December 22, 2024.
A senior government official said the laws would have to be simultaneously implemented in States and union territories and there could not be different dates.
The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) replaces the Indian Penal Code, 1860; the Bharatiya Sakshya (BS) replaces the Indian Evidence Act, 1872; and the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) replaces the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898.
The December 25 notification said the laws “shall come into force on such date as the Central government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint.”
Suspended for protests
The three laws were passed by the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha on December 20 and 21 respectively in the absence of majority of Opposition members. The members belonging to the INDIA bloc were suspended after they held protests to demand a statement from Mr. Shah regarding the December 13 security breach in Parliament.
“Several magistrates asked on Tuesday why the police are still registering cases under the IPC when the new laws are in place. Till now, no training of officials has been held nor there is a change in the software used to register the cases,” a Delhi police official said.
Presently, over 95% police stations across the country register First Information Reports (FIR) through a common application software under the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS), a project started in 2009.
Out of 17,379 sanctioned police stations, as many as 16,733 police stations are linked to CCTNS, which is under the ambit of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).
“The format for FIRs, Integrated Investigation Form (IIF) among others will have to be changed under CCTNS. That has not been done so far. In some States, the FIR is registered in local language, that link will have to be established since the names of the Acts are in Hindi,” said another official.
The official added that there is confusion regarding supplementary chargesheets too. “What will be the fate of supplementary chargesheets for cases filed under the IPC after the Sanhita is implemented. All this requires further clarity,” the official said.
M.S Khan, a lawyer specialising in terror cases, said police officials would have to be properly trained.
“Though there are no substantial changes in the three legislation, some offences might be overlooked due to lack of application of provisions by investigating agencies. It will take 3-4 years to train the police officials as BNSS requires time-bound investigation and mandatory audio visual recording [of search and seizure etc],” Mr. Khan said.
The legislation will have to be notified separately in Nagaland as Article 371A of the Constitution grants special provisions to the State and tribal areas under the sixth schedule of the Constitution in the States of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram.
