Classes, notes and homework: Cops begin prep for new criminal laws

On Monday , 175 police officers in the Union Territory of Chandigarh walked into the auditorium of the Chandigarh Judicial Academy in a new avatar , as students.

- Prawesh Lama

The three day programme is a proper back-to-school exercise for the lawmen.

Classes start everyday at 10 am.

The policemen are expected to take notes.

And there will be homework that they are expected to complete and submit.

And yes -- there are books.

“Last week I bought books that have been published recently from the Sector 17 market,” said one of the students, Sudesh Sharma, in-charge of the police post at Dariya in Chandigarh.

The stakes are high. The policemen are in class to learn about the three new criminal laws India’s Parliament passed recently, Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam.

Together, they constitute an entirely new code and system, replacing one that was at least 164 years old.

And Chandigarh is ground zero -- on December 21, Union home minister Amit Shah announced that the UT would be the first to implement the three laws, by December 2024.

The laws have several differences from the Indian Penal Code, Criminal Procedure Code and Indian Evidence Act that they will replace. Some changes deal with offences of terrorism, crimes against women, acts against the State, registration of e-FIRs, and electronic evidence. They also make it mandatory for the police to record photo and video evidence of crime spots, and use them as evidence.

On Monday, the 175 trainees included deputy superintendents of police, inspectors(many of them station house officers),and sub inspectors . Monday’s lessons were on what constitutes evidence and laws relating to confession and admission.