The foresight possessed by the father of Indian Penal Code, Lord Thomas Babington Macaulay, more than two and a half centuries back cannot be understood to be efficient enough to transcend and serve upon the modern-day legal implications. The advent of modern society has led to social transformation as well as introduction of newer aspects of evidentiary forms that take a pivotal place in fact formation in the likes of forensic science, digital record keeping, etc.
In the quest to cater to the above, the definitions of words “documents” and “evidence” have been given wider scope that now include electronic or digital record on emails, server logs, documents on computers, laptop or smartphone, messages, websites, cloud, locational evidence and voice mail messages stored on digital devices. [Section 2(1)(d) and 2(1)(e), Bhartiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023]
More reformative actions can be viewed through introduction of “Community Service” as a punishment vide Section 4 of the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023. The offences that attract the said punishment encompass non-appearance as required by a proclamation, attempt to commit suicide, petty theft, misconduct in public by a drunken person, etc. One can squarely witness the introduction of the reformative punishment theory through “Community Service”. The change in the approach by application of punishment theory can also be witnessed through the increase of punishment in the form of imprisonment as well as fines that thrusts towards the deterrent punishment theory.
In addition, the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 adopts a victim centric approach to address the issues arising out of non-availability of information to the victims and informants, to combat which, the Act introduces a mandate upon the police officer to keep the victims and informants updated with the progress of investigation within 90 days of the investigation. Such updates can also be provided through electronic mediums. [Section 193(3)(ii), Bhartiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023]
In the past, the accused’s vexatious attempts to cause needless disturbances in the proceedings frequently resulted in delays in providing the accused with the police report and other documents. In order to expedite the process of providing copies to the accused, Section 193(8) was introduced. This means that the police officer must submit to the magistrate, at the time of filing the charge sheet, the number of copies of the police report and any other properly indexed documents that must be provided to the accused. Furthermore, the provision of documents via electronic communication has been included to make this procedure of document delivery citizen-friendly and technologically compatible. Therefore, overall, that the reformed criminal laws fasten clear demarked responsibilities and checks over the litigants as well as upon other stakeholders so as to make each and every available legal remedy efficacious.
From what has been enunciated above, one can understand that each time a change in law has been commissioned, or altogether newer aspects have been introduced in the domain, the key idea behind such change is the development of newer jurisprudence by way of making way for the judiciary to carve new paths to justice.
Source: Barandbench
