Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita makes our criminal justice system justice centric: Kartikeya Sharma

Following are excerpts from the speech made by Rajya Sabha member Kartikeya Sharma on the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, passed by Parliament.

- KARTIKEYA SHARMA

Thank You, Chairman Sir, for allowing me to speak on this historic piece of legislation. I stand to speak in support of the Bill.

* In the year 1834, the first Indian Law Commission was constituted under the Chairmanship of Lord Macaulay which gave birth to the Indian Penal Code, in 1860.

* The Indian Evidence Act was enacted in the year 1872 with a view to consolidate the law relating to evidence on which the Court.

* The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 regulates the procedure for arrest, investigation, inquiry and trial of offences under the Indian Penal Code and under any other law governing criminal offences.

These key provisions which form the basis of the justice delivery system in India, have been antiqued and age old. When the British came to India, the original and only purpose was colonisation of the mind since they believed that if the mind was colonised they would not need long standing armies to colonise the natives.

According to the British historian Elizabeth Kolsky, the main idea was that the British felt that the natives and colonials needed a different set of laws under which they were governed as they felt the native was incapable of appreciating the rule of law and hence needed stringent laws to be governed.

That explains the idea behind the criminal tribes and thuggee acts which were based on the concept of hereditary criminality which the British believed was inherent in the natives.

Present laws as they stand, reek of colonial hangover. It still reminds us of the times when the British were ruling us. And they continued to rule us through these Acts, written by them for them. These acts were formulated at a time when the population of the country was about 20 crores.