Madras HC orders issuing notice to Centre over DMK's plea against three new criminal laws

CHENNAI: Taking cognizance of a petition filed by DMK organising secretary RS Bharathi to declare the three new criminal laws which have replaced the Code of Criminal Procedure as unconstitutional and ultra vires, the Madras High Court on Friday ordered issuing notice to the Centre.

Pointing out that the new laws would be a recipe for chaos and confusion among the people, the court said that the Centre should have consulted the judiciary before deciding to implement them from July 1.

The three new criminal laws --- Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam replaced the Code of Criminal Procedure, Indian Penal Code, and Indian Evidence Act, from July 1 this year.

A division bench comprising Justices SS Sundar and N Senthil Kumar ordered notice to the Centre, returnable by four weeks.

RS Bharathi has filed three individual cases against the new laws.

According to the petitioner, the government introduced the three Bills and got them passed by the Parliament without any meaningful discussion.

In the absence of any substantive changes, mere shuffling of sections was unnecessary and will cause a lot of inconvenience and confusion regarding the interpretation of the provisions, he added.

He said shuffling of sections will make it very difficult for the judges, advocates, the law enforcing authorities and the general public to correlate the new provisions with the old ones to search for precedents.

It seems the exercise was being done only to "Sanskritise" the titles of the Acts without any devotion to revisit the laws, he contended.

Bharathi further said the government cannot claim that it was an act of Parliament. The enactments were made by only one limb of the Parliament viz., the ruling party and its allies, keeping away the opposition parties, he claimed.

He said the naming of the Acts in Hindi/Sanskrit was violative of Article 348 of the Constitution, which mandates, inter alia, that the authoritative texts of all Bills to be introduced in either house of Parliament shall be in English.

(With PTI inputs)