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Published on:
Sep 21, 2023
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Lok Sabha has proposed three bills aimed at over- hauling a few colonialera criminal laws. The Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860, the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), 1898 and The Indian Evidence Act-1872, implemented by the British before the country's independence in 1947 will be replaced with Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, and Bharatiya Sakshya, respectively, once the bills become acts.
Revision of criminal code
The introduction of the acts will demand a change in the law school syllabus, which may be a challenge for practitioners, teachers and students. "Reviewing and revising penal codes is a welcome initiative. Even the author of IPC, Thomas Babington Macaulay had favoured time-to-time review of laws," says Faizan Mustafa, vice-chancellor, Chanakya National Law University, Patna.
Teaching the new laws would require a comparative study of the old and the new legislations. "The sections have been rearranged and rena- med as clauses. This would require the teachers to restructure their lessons as per the new arrangements. Some new provisions that are being proposed, are already the subject of our classroom discussions when we study criminal law," says Vageshwari Deswal, professor, Faculty of Law, University of Delhi (DU).
Clearing clouds around the new syllabus under criminal law, Arpit Jain, assistant professor, Law Government College, Dewas, Madhya Pradesh, says, "Basically, there will be no major challenge for the law college teachers. However, once the Act is introduced, teachers will have to plan an innovative and systematic delivery of the new curriculum." The amendments will also reduce the court's pendency. Nitin Saluja, advocate on record, says, "One important change is that the scope of 'Summary Trials' has been expanded to cover the offences punishable up to three years, which means that trials for the offences punishable up to three years will be conducted quickly and in a simplified procedure. This will aid in quicker disposal of such cases.'
Impact on syllabus
Initially, law students may find it burdensome to revise the new sections and there may be some confusion among the law teachers. "Laws have been there for over 160 years, section numbers become part of the collective memory of society. Ideally, changing numbers does not improve laws. The current
generation of teachers, lawyers and judges would find it difficult to remember new section numbers initially. There would be no burden on the new students who are not familiar with the previous provisions," says Mustafa. This may be problematic for students preparing for competitive exams for two to three years. It will also be challenging for examiners, adds Mustafa. The renewed syllabus will be applicable only from the subsequent academic session. However, from the knowledge point of view, the students will be overburdened. Law students are fashioned to memorise important sections by heart. There is also a certain scheme and flow to remember law scientifically and systematically, although the new bills do not completely change the scheme of criminal law but rearrange the whole lot of proviesions and also rename them. Hence, the students will have to put those extra efforts into unlearning and relearning (especially serial of sections
and headings), adds Mustafa. "The replaced laws will be Da burden for the batch of students enrolled in LLB at the time of introduction of the bill as criminal laws are always implemented prospectively. The date of commission of a crime will be relevant to determine 7 the applicability of laws to any given case and in the absence of a limitation period for criminal prosecution, the students, practising lawyers, prosecutors, as well as judicial officers, are all going to face the complexities in the times to come," says Deswal.
Once the bills are passed during the winter parliamentary session, books with revised criminal laws will be published. "The proposed changes are very basic. It would mean that eventually students would need to learn some extra themes but even for that they will have time to get acquainted," says Nayan Singh, judiciary aspirant.
Published on - Times of India
Date - 18/09/2023
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