Revised criminal code Bills: Life term, death for hate-crime murder, mob lynching; terror ambit widened

Quite disappointing

Revised criminal code Bills: Life term, death for hate-crime murder, mob lynching; terror ambit widened

Enhancing the minimum punishment for mob lynching and hate-crime murder from seven years to life imprisonment and expanding the definition of terrorism, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday introduced revised versions of three criminal law Bills in Lok Sabha to replace the Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860; The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (originally enacted in 1898); and the Indian Evidence Act, 1872.

The Bharatiya Nyaya (Second) Sanhita, 2023, the Bill that seeks to replace the IPC, now prescribes a punishment for mob lynching that extends from life imprisonment to death. In its earlier version, introduced in August, the Bill prescribed a punishment that extended from seven years to death.

Under the offence of terrorism, the Sanhita now includes “causing damage or destruction of property in a foreign country, intended for the defence of India or any other governmental purpose.” In the earlier version, this was only limited to damage to government or public facilities, public places, private properties within India.

The terror provision is also expanded to include the detention, kidnapping or abduction of a person to compel the Government of India, state governments or foreign governments to do or abstain from doing any activity.

The Bill had made mob lynching and hate crime a separate category of murder for the first time. The offence deals with cases when a mob of five or more individuals commits murder based on factors such as race, caste, community, or personal belief.

The lesser sentence in the earlier version of the Bill meant that hate crimes carried a lesser sentence than murder otherwise committed which carries a life sentence. The revised version now brings it on the same footing.

With mob lynching now a separate offence, there could be official documentation of incidents related to lynching and hate crimes, reported through the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).

The other key change is that the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) 2023 reverts to using the phrase “unsound mind”, which is currently used in the IPC as defence of the accused. In the earlier version, the BNS had replaced it with “mental illness.”

The Parliamentary panel, headed by BJP MP Brij Lal, had recommended some key changes including on the use of the phrase “mental illness” since it is “too wide in its import” and could even include mood swings and voluntary intoxication in its ambit.

However, many changes which were vague or left undefined, continue in the revised version of the Bill.

For example, the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, the Bill to replace the CrPC, prescribes community service as an alternate form of punishment for some offences including small theft, defamation, and attempting suicide with an intention to keep a public official from discharging her duty. However, what community service that would entail has been left undefined.

Apurva Vishwanath – 2023-12-13 04:04

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