Union Home Minister Amit Shah presents revised bills to overhaul India's existing criminal laws

Union Home Minister Amit Shah has presented three revised bills designed to supplant the country's existing criminal laws. He noted to the Speaker that while some segments of the laws have been altered, the bulk of the amendments were grammatical corrections. Bharatiya Nyaya (Second) Sanhita, 2023; Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha (Second) Sanhita, 2023; and Bharatiya Sakshya (Second), 2023 are the three laws in question.

Earlier, Union Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal moved the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Bill, 2023 in the Rajya Sabha for consideration to regulate the appointment, conditions of service and term of office of the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and other Election Commissioners (ECs), and the procedure for transaction of business by the Election Commission. The bill seeks to establish a committee of the Prime Minister, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and a Cabinet Minister nominated by the PM to select members of the Election Commission. The bill aims to overturn the Supreme Court verdict (March 2) which said that a high-power committee consisting of the PM, LoP in Lok Sabha, and the Chief Justice of India must pick the CEC and ECs.

In the meantime, the Centre has chosen to replace "mental illness" as a defence of the accused with "unsound mind" in the Bhartiya Nyay Samhita (BNS) 2023, among other changes recommended by the Parliamentary panel, by withdrawing the three new criminal law bills from the Lok Sabha and introducing new draft laws.