New Criminal Laws, a major change in the legal system came into effect in the country. From yesterday, three main criminal laws – the Indian Penal Code, 1860, the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 and the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 – will no longer be in force. In their place, the Indian Justice Code, 2023, the Indian Evidence Act, 2023 and the Indian Civil Defense Code, 2023 have come into force.
The three new laws were passed in Parliament in December last year. In place of the three main criminal laws that were in place since the British era, new laws have now become effective across the country. In view of the increasing interference of technology in our lives, emphasis has been laid on maximum use of technology in these laws also. Provision for digitalizing most of the legal processes has been made in these laws. The government had also mentioned these things during the discussion in Parliament.
#NewCriminalLaws: The new criminal laws introduced by Central Government last year are set to come into effect today@KuheenaSharma | #IndiaNews #CriminalLaw pic.twitter.com/20pavK7Fo1
— News18 (@CNNnews18) July 1, 2024
The three new laws that came into effect from July 1 are the Indian Judicial Code, the Indian Civil Defense Code and the Indian Evidence Act. These laws will replace the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) and the old Indian Evidence Act respectively. On December 12, 2023, a bill to change these three laws was proposed in the Lok Sabha. These were passed in the Lok Sabha on December 20, 2023 and in the Rajya Sabha on December 21, 2023. On December 25, 2023, the President gave his assent to three bills.
On February 24, 2024, the Central Government had announced that three new criminal laws will come into effect from July 1 this year.
How are the new laws linked to technology?
Documents also include digital records: State-of-the-art technologies have been incorporated in these laws. By expanding the definition of documents, legal validity has been given to electronic or digital records, e-mails, server logs, computers, smart phones, laptops, SMS, websites, locational evidence, mails and messages available on devices. The government says that this will provide relief from the pile of papers in the courts.
Expansion of video conferencing and videography in legal process: A provision has been made in this law to digitalize the entire process from FIR to case diary, from case diary to charge sheet and from charge sheet to judgment. Currently, only the production of the accused can be done through video conferencing, but now the entire trial, including cross questioning, will be done through video conferencing.
According to the Central Government, it has been made after discussing with the National Forensic Science University and scholars and technical experts on this subject from across the country. Videography has been made mandatory at the time of search and seizure which will be a part of the case and innocent citizens will not be implicated. Without such recording by the police, no charge sheet will be valid.
Maximum use of forensic science: The Union Home Minister said in the House that even after 75 years of independence, the evidence of our conviction is very less, that is why we have worked to promote forensic science. The government had decided to establish a National Forensic Science University. After three years, the country will get 33 thousand forensic science experts and scientists every year. In this law, we have aimed to take the conviction ratio above 90 percent.
For this, an important provision has been made that it has been made mandatory for the forensic team to visit the crime scene of crimes punishable with punishment of seven years or more. Through this, the police will have scientific evidence, after which the chances of acquittal of the culprits in the court will be greatly reduced.
Provision of e-FIR for the first time: Zero FIR will be started for the first time to ensure the convenience of citizens. Wherever the crime may have taken place, it can be registered even outside the police station area. The crime will have to be sent to the concerned police station within 15 days of registration. The provision of e-FIR has been added for the first time. In every district and police station, a police officer will be designated who will inform the family of the arrested person about his arrest online and in person.
It is necessary to make the decision available online within a week: A target has been set to computerize all the courts of the country before 2027. In the new laws, a time limit of 90 days has been fixed for filing the charge sheet and depending on the circumstances; the court will be able to give permission for further 90 days.
Thus, the investigation will have to be completed within 180 days and sent for trial. Courts will now be bound to give notice of framing of charges to the accused person within 60 days. The judge will have to give the decision within 30 days of completion of the arguments, this will prevent the decision from being pending for years and the decision will have to be made available online within 7 days.