India introduces new criminal codes

AFP | Riyadh, Saudi Arabia  

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

India yesterday implemented an overhaul of colonial-era criminal laws, praised as a "watershed" movement by the top judge but which critics said could worsen an already glacially slow pace of justice.

Amit Shah, the interior minister, said the codes would help India "become the world's most modern justice delivery system".

The three overhauled laws -- the penal code, and codes relating to criminal procedure and evidence -- were passed last year during India's previous parliament, but only came into effect on Monday.

Chief Justice D. Y. Chandrachud said they "signify a watershed moment for our society".

Laws dealing with sexual assault have been strengthened, while a previous law criminalising sodomy has been removed.

Key changes include the amount of time police can hold a suspect rising from 15 days to 60, and, in some special cases, up to 90.

Previously it was up to a judge to decide if a case could proceed to trial, but the new laws bolster the power of the police to decide, something Supreme Court lawyer Nipun Saxena criticised.

"Judicial functions cannot be transferred to police," Saxena said. The code has also been modernised -- requiring video recordings to be made at the scene of serious crimes, as well as updating admissible digital evidence.

At independence in 1947, India inherited the 19th-century penal code imposed by British rule, although it has been overhauled by previous parliaments.

The first person charged under the new codes was a street vendor blocking a footbridge in the capital New Delhi, the Times of India reported.