Draft reports on bills to replace criminal laws likely to be adopted Monday

A parliamentary committee scrutinising three bills to replace the existing criminal laws will meet on Monday to adopt draft reports, days after some opposition members had sought an extension for the panel to go through the measures in greater detail.

On October 27, the standing committee on Home could not adopt the three draft reports as some opposition members pressed for more time to study it.

Some opposition members had urged panel chairperson Brij Lal to seek an extension of three months in its tenure and "stop bulldozing these bills for short-term electoral gain".

For making a robust legislation that serves the marginalised, the committee should not adopt a final report in the next few days or in November. "We will be mocking the process of legislative scrutiny if we do so," an opposition MP had said in a communication, according to opposition sources.

However, BJP sources said the committee has engaged in an extensive consultation process and will meet its deadline of three months.

The committee will now meet on November 6, according to a notice sent to members for adopting the three drafts.

Sources said the panel may adopt the draft reports despite protests by some of its members from the opposition parties.

Seeking a complete overhaul of colonial-era criminal laws, Home Minister Amit Shah had introduced in Lok Sabha during the Monsoon session three bills to replace the Indian Penal Code (IPC), The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 and the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 with Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, respectively.

The House later sent the bills after their introduction on August 11 to the committee for scrutiny and asked it to submit its report within three months.

Sources have said that the committee is likely to recommend a raft of amendments in the three bills but will be sticking to their Hindi names, something fiercely contested by opposition MPs, including from the DMK. They have demanded English names for the proposed laws as well.