Full rollout of new laws in Union territories by August 15

NEW DELHI: Home minister Amit Shah on Monday said all the Union territories, including Delhi, are expected to fully roll out the three criminal laws — Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam — by August 15, though a countrywide 100 per cent implementation may take 3-4 years as the entire criminal justice infrastructure is upgraded as per requirements of the new laws.
Shah said that the states will have flexibility to start by notifying a police station for full rollout of the new criminal laws, followed by a tehsil, a district and, ultimately, the entire state. This will require upgrade of the courts, which is in the works since 2020 in consultation with the Supreme Court and the necessary software having been readied.
“With the required technological readiness at the level of police and courts, the laws will be fully implemented and the process from registration of FIR to final disposal right upto the level of Supreme Court will not take more than three years,” the home minister assured at a press conference here.
“From today, all FIRs will be registered as per provisions of BNS,” he said, adding that over 6 lakh police officers across the country’s 17,000 police stations, 21,000 subordinate judiciary officials and 20 thousand public prosecutors have been trained. He added that the Cabinet recently cleared the setting up of additional campuses of the National Forensic Sciences University (CFSU) and establishment of more Central Forensic Science Laboratories (CFSL) in the states. Shah said this will help create more than 40,000 trained forensic manpower in three years, meeting the additional requirement of forensic experts thanks to the provision in BNSS for mandatory visit by a forensic team to the crime scene in offences punishable with seven years or more.
Shah on Monday said that the criminal justice system is now fully “swadeshi”, based on laws passed by Parliament, unlike the IPC, CrPC and Indian Evidence Act that were a legacy of the British rule. “The new laws have replaced punishment with justice...and delay with speedy trial. Earlier laws only protected the rights of the police but the new ones protect the rights of victims and complainants as well,” he stated.
Shah said the new criminal laws prioritise crimes against women and children, with a chapter dedicated to these and the provisions made more sensitive towards the victim. For the first time, mob lynching has been defined and severe punishment provided for it.
As per the home minister, provisions have been made in the laws for embracing technologies to be developed over the next 50 years. Almost 99.9 per cent of the country’s police stations have been computerized with the process of generating e-records having started in 2019. Shah said zero-FIR, e-FIR and chargesheet will all be digital in the new laws. The laws set timelines for investigation, chargesheet and trial, etc, enabling time-bound justice for the common citizen.
Shah said the new laws — when fully implemented with interoperability of the police, courts, prosecution, forensics and prisons — are expected to raise the conviction rate to 90 per cent .
Shah said BSA has leveraged technology in the field of evidence. Now server logs, location evidence and voice messages will be admissible as evidence.