Put on hold three criminal laws, consult stakeholders: Stalin in letter to Amit Shah
MK Stalin has asked Union home minister Amit Shah to consider the views of all states and other key stakeholders and withhold the enactments already notified.
Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin on Tuesday wrote to Union home minister Amit Shah requesting the central government to review the new enactments of changing the names of the three criminal laws, an official from the chief minister’s office said on condition of anonymity.
Stalin has asked Shah to take into consideration the views of all states and other key stakeholders and withhold the enactments already notified.
“I wish to bring to your kind attention certain objections and issues faced by the State in the implementation of the three new Criminal Laws enacted by the Union Government repealing the existing Indian Penal Code, 1860, the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973; and the Indian Evidence Act, 1872, which are likely to come into effect from July 1,” Stalin has said in his letter, a copy of which HT has seen.
He further stated: “The replacement of the above mentioned three Acts has been done in haste without adequate deliberations and consultations.”
“These enactments are falling within List III – concurrent list of the Constitution of India and hence extensive consultation ought to have been done with the State Government. The States were not given adequate time to express their views and the new laws were passed by the Parliament without the participation of the opposition parties,” he added.
The three Acts have been renamed as Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023, Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BSA), 2023. “…all named in Sanskrit which is in clear violation of Article 348 of the Constitution of India,” Stalin said adding that “It is mandatory that all Acts passed by the Parliament shall be in English.”
He added that there are errors in these enactments. “For instance, Section 103 of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) has two subsections for two distinct classes of murder but having the same punishment. There are some more provisions in BNSS and BNS which are ambiguous or self-contradictory,” he said.
The implementation of these new laws will require discussions with academic institutions and revision of syllabus for Law College students which require sufficient time, he added besides the capacity building and other technological requirements for the stakeholder departments such as Judiciary, Police, Prisons, Prosecution and Forensic need sufficient resources and time. It is also imperative to frame new rules and revise the existing forms and operating procedures in consultation with stakeholder departments which cannot be done in haste, he added.
*In the light of the above, I request the Union Government to review the new enactments after taking into consideration the views of all the States and other key stakeholders and withhold the aforesaid enactments already notified,” Stalin said.
