Alteration Proposed: Significant Amendments to Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) Bill 2023 affecting criminal laws in India
The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) Bill 2023, tabled in the Parliament, aims to modernize India's criminal justice system by revising and updating various provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Here's a closer look at some of the key changes proposed by the BNS Bill:
Sedition: The BNS Bill removes the British-era sedition law, which has been widely criticized for its vagueness and misuse. This move reflects a commitment to delink expression from sedition and avoid penalizing dissent unjustly.
Murder: The BNS Bill retains the offence of murder but revises definitions and punishment frameworks for greater clarity and modern applicability. The Bill addresses accomplices and intent more distinctly from the IPC, although a detailed review of the full text is required to understand the specifics.
Snatching: The BNS Bill updates provisions around theft-related crimes like snatching to incorporate contemporary contexts and provide more proportional penal provisions, adapting to recent crime trends.
Terrorism: The BNS Bill introduces clearer categorization and enhanced definitions for terrorism-related offences, reflecting expanded coverage of hate crimes, cyberterrorism, mob lynching, and honour crimes, which are absent or less defined in the IPC.
Defamation: The BNS Bill relaxes defamation laws by decriminalizing certain provisions to reduce misuse against free speech, facilitating a civil approach rather than criminalizing defamation in many cases.
Suicide: The BNS Bill decriminalizes attempt to commit suicide, aligning with contemporary human rights views and recent Supreme Court rulings, shifting away from criminal penalties towards mental health support.
Sexual Offences Against Women: The BNS Bill broadens the scope of sexual offences, expanding definitions to include acts like digital harassment and consent obtained through "deceitful means," thereby strengthening protections for women in digital and nuanced contexts.
In addition, the BNS Bill removes outdated IPC provisions related to unnatural sex and adultery, which have been diluted or struck down by the Supreme Court, thus modernizing the criminal code in line with current constitutional values.
The BNS Bill also proposes community service as part of the punishment for defamation. If a group of five or more persons acting in concert commit murder on certain grounds, each member is punishable with death or life imprisonment and a fine. The Bill also introduces a new provision on "snatching" under section 302.
Notably, the BNS Bill does not repeat the offence of sedition under the IPC. The proposal to repeal this offence is a highlight of the BNS Bill, 2023. The Bill also contains changes in provisions related to defamation, offences against women, and attempt to commit suicide.
The BNS Bill defines terrorism for the first time, under provision 111. It also proposes a capital sentence as the maximum punishment for crimes such as mob lynching and rape of minors. The Bill contains 356 provisions, compared to 511 sections in the IPC, suggesting a more streamlined and modern approach to criminal law.
The BNS Bill is a significant step towards modernizing India's criminal justice system, refining definitions, removing colonial-era provisions, incorporating new categories like cybercrimes and hate crimes, and emphasizing human rights-friendly approaches to offences such as suicide and defamation.
%20Bill%202023%20affecting%20criminal%20laws%20in%20India){kind=link}