BENGALURU: An expert committee, headed by Minister of Law, Justice and Human Rights, Parliamentary Affairs and Legislation and Tourism, H K Patil, submitted a study report on the Bills — Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita and Bharatiya Sakshya Bill 2023 — to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday. The Bills were introduced in the Lower House of Parliament on August 11.
After learning about the key points of the report, CM Siddaramaiah said that the government will send its opinion about these bills based on the committee report to the Union Government and will also discuss this in person with Union Home Minister Amit Shah during the next meeting.
Minister HK Patil explained that the committee held 10 meetings and every section of these Bills were studied and discussed in detail. The CM congratulated the expert committee members for preparing the report with great effort, knowledge and experience.
Former judge of Karnataka High Court Justice P N Desai, Principal Secretary of Law, Justice and Human Rights Department, Prabhavathi M Hiremath, Parliamentary Affairs and Legislation Department Secretary Sridhar G, Special Secretary of Law, Justice and Human Rights Department and Director of Prosecution and Government Litigation H K Jagadeesh, Additional Secretary of Law Justice and Human Rights Department Sheila B M, retired Professor Chidanand Patil, advocate Shashikanth Karoshi, former DGP N S Megharikh, Professor of National Law School of India University, Professor S V Jogarao, former additional secretary of Law, Justice and Human Rights Department, Mohammed Ismail were members of the Committee.
The three Bills seek to replace the Indian Penal Code (IPC) 1860, the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), 1973, and the Indian Evidence Act, 1872, respectively. While introducing the bills, Home Minister Amit Shah said the soul of these three new laws will be to protect all the rights given by the Constitution to citizens.
Shah said that 18 states, six Union Territories, the Supreme Court, 16 High Courts, five judicial academies, 22 law universities, 142 Members of Parliament, about 270 MLAs and people gave their suggestions regarding these new laws and that for four years, these were discussed in depth and he himself was present in 158 meetings.
The Home Minister said that the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Bill, which will replace the IPC, will have 356 sections instead of the earlier 511 sections, adding that 175 sections have been amended, 8 new sections have been added and 22 sections have been repealed. (ANI)