A new bill on criminal process will bring about changes in how the police investigate crimes and how trials use technology

The Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) Bill, which seeks to replace the colonial-era Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), proposes key changes in the delivery system for criminal justice. These changes include a provision for the attachment of properties of proclaimed offenders in India and abroad, as well as allowing handcuffs to be used for the arrest of persons in certain cases.

Both the Indian Penal Code (1860) and the Indian Evidence Act (1872) will be repealed and replaced by the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) Bill and the Bharatiya Sakshya (BS) Bill, which were both introduced into the Lok Sabha on Friday. A parliamentary committee has been asked to do more research on the three proposals that have been introduced.

 

The Criminal Procedures Bill is intended to provide impetus to wider use of technology, with the goal of enabling trials to take place by video-conferencing. This is stated to be in keeping with the Digital India program being led by the Centre.

 

In addition to this, the law suggests that a punishment of any kind will not be necessary in order to prosecute a government person in situations involving sexual offenses or trafficking.

 

Within one hundred and twenty days after receiving a request, the government is required to make a decision about whether or not to authorise the prosecution of a public official. It was stated that the punishment would be considered to have been applied in the event that the government did not comply.

 

New provisions have been added to the BNSS that make it a criminal offense to wage war against the government of a foreign country that is at peace with India and to conduct depredation on the territory of such a foreign state. The maximum sentence for this offense is seven years in jail.

 

According to Section 151 of the BNSS Bill, “whoever wages war against the government of any foreign state at peace with the government of India or attempts to wage such war or abets the waging of such war shall be punished with imprisonment for life, or for a term which may extend to seven years, with/without fine.” This provision states that the penalty for violating this provision is either life in prison or a term that may extend up to seven years.

 

The provision on attachment of property of a proclaimed offender abroad stipulates that the superintendent of police or commissioner of police shall make an application to the court, and then that court shall initiate steps to request assistance from a court or an authority in the contracting country for the purpose of identifying the proclaimed offender’s assets.

 

According to the new legislation, the charge sheet will be required to be submitted within ninety days, and the court may extend the amount of time it takes to investigate the agency by another ninety days depending on the circumstances.

 

Following the end of the trial, the lower court is required to issue its verdict within a period of thirty days.

 

Regarding the use of handcuffs, it was stated that the officer may, “Keeping in view the nature and gravity of the offence, use handcuff while effecting the arrest of a person who is a habitual, repeat offender who escaped from custody, who has committed offense of organized crime, offense of terrorist act, drug related crime, or offense of illegal possession of arms and ammunition, murder, rape, acid attack, counterfeiting of coins and currency notes, human trafficking, sexual offence.” This

 

The proposed legislation includes provisions that would allow a magistrate to compel a person to produce samples of his signature, handwriting, voice, or finger imprints for the purpose of an inquiry without the individual being subject to an arrest warrant.

 

There are provisions in the law that allow the police to hold or remove any individual who is opposing, denying, ignoring, or disregarding the directives that are issued as part of preventative action. These sections relate to police custody.

 

A person who has been accused of committing a crime may be prosecuted and found guilty of the crime notwithstanding their absence from the trial.

 

“Notwithstanding anything contained in this Sanhita…For the time being in force, when a person declared as a proclaimed offender, whether or not charged jointly, has absconded to evade trial and there is no immediate prospect of arresting him, it shall be deemed to operate as a waiver of the right of such person to be present and tried in person, and the Court shall, after recording reasons in writing, in the interest of justice, proceed with the trial in the like manner.” This provision states

 

The BNSS Bill allows for the use of technology and forensic sciences in areas pertaining to the investigation of a crime, the filing of FIRs, and the delivery of summonses through electronic means.

 

The law takes a citizen-centered approach to the delivery of a first information report; it also keeps victims apprised of the development of the case, including via the use of digital means; and it makes use of video conferencing to make the proceedings easier to follow.

 

Regarding the withdrawal of cases, the Bill stipulates that if a case carrying a sentence of more than seven years is going to be withdrawn, the victim will be provided with an opportunity to be heard prior to the beginning of the procedure.

 

Concerning the ‘Zero FIR’ policy, the Bill proposes that individuals may file a First Information Report (FIR) at any police station, regardless of whether or not that station has jurisdiction over the location where the crime took place, and that the FIR must be transferred within 15 days to the police station that does have jurisdiction over the site where the crime took place.

 

The Bill proposes that the trials, appeal hearings, recording of depositions, including those of public officials and police officers, and even the statement of the accused may all be recorded using video conferencing. Additionally, the statement of the accused can be recorded through electronic means.

 

The bill proposes that legal processes such as subpoenas, warrants, papers, police reports, and statements of evidence may all be carried out electronically.

 

A provision on the procedures for the timeframe to file mercy petitions in death sentence cases is included in the new law that is being proposed. After a convict who has been sentenced to death has been informed by jail authorities about the disposal of his petition, the convict, his legal heir, or a relative can submit a mercy petition to the Governor within 30 days of being informed of the disposition.

 

If the request is denied, the individual has sixty days to file a petition with the President, and according to the proposal, no court will hear an appeal against an order issued by the President.

 

The new legislation makes the following provision about the sanction to prosecute a government employee in criminal cases: “A decision to grant or reject sanction to prosecute a public servant must be reached by the government within 120 days of receiving a request.” In the event that the government does not comply, the punishment will be considered to have been issued.

 

According to what was found, no punishment is necessary in situations such as sexual offenses, trafficking, and so on.

 

The BNSS Bill, which is intended to take the role of the CrPC, now has 533 parts; however, 160 of the existing law’s sections have been amended, nine new sections have been introduced, and nine sections have been removed.

 

The home minister had said in Lok Sabha that a provision had been established in the legislation to digitize the whole process, beginning with the filing of the first official report of the crime (FIR), continuing with the creation of the case diary, and concluding with the filing of the charge sheet.

 

The minister had said that videography had been made mandatory at the moment of search and seizure, which would be a part of the case, and that this would prevent innocent persons from getting implicated. He had also stated that “no charge sheet will be valid without such recording being done by the police.”

 

The minister had previously said that after the charge sheet has been filed, the trial courts would be required to provide notice of the framing of charges to the accused individual within sixty days of the filing.

 

This will not leave the judgment lingering for years, and it will be required to be made accessible online within seven days of the trial judge making the decision. The decision will have to be given within thirty days of the conclusion of the debate.