Shah withdraws Bills on criminal laws, introduces new draft legislations

Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday withdrew the three bills to replace criminal laws and introduced a fresh set of draft legislations incorporating recommendations of a parliamentary panel in Lok Sabha.

He said instead of bringing several official amendments to incorporate recommendations of the Parliamentary Committee on Home Affairs, the government decided to bring fresh bills incorporating changes.

The discussion on the bills will take place day Thursday and voting will take place Friday, Shah told opposition members who demanded sufficient time to study the three bills.

He said he introduced the bills on Tuesday so that the members could get 48 hours to study the draft laws.

He said mainly five sections have been tweaked and most of the changes relate to grammar and language.

The redrafted Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Bill, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam bill seek to replace the Code of Criminal Procedure Act, 1898, the Indian Penal Code, 1860, and the Indian Evidence Act, 1872, respectively.

Shah also rejected suggestions of referring the three measures to a joint committee, saying the standing committee has made several recommendations.

A total of 12 hours have been allocated for discussing the three bills, Speaker Om Birla said.