The oft-quoted criticism of criminal justice system is that ‘the process is the punishment’. Various issues plague the Indian criminal justice system. This, in turn, has resulted in delayed investigation, pendency of cases, low conviction rates, and a violation of the rights of victims and accused.
During the past seventy five years of our country’s existence, we have had major learnings of our fault lines. These fault lines are a cocktail of historical, social, political and economic reasons. From time to time, changes have been made to address concerns of changing times. However, such patchworks have not been able to match the people’s expectations.
Therefore, the proposed overhaul of the criminal justice system has stoked people’s interest. In this article, we intend to understand key changes which have been brought in the newly introduced criminal laws.
For starters, the underlying objective is to replace colonial hangover with sui generis legislation which caters to unique Indian needs and aspirations. The emphasis is on reformative instead of retributive justice, on making the system victim-friendly, citizen-oriented, speedy, and simple.
With the afore mentioned background, we proceed to note key changes proposed in the BNS-2. Several progressive changes have been made. The BNS-2 for the first time recognizes ‘transgender’ in its scope. Several offences have been made gender-neutral, such as voyeurism, assault or use of criminal force to woman with intent to disrobe, etc. Interestingly, ‘community service’ has been introduced as a punishment, which is a welcome step towards reformative aims.
Source: Barandbench
