Concerns as India replaces colonial-era laws with new criminal codes

Modi’s government says overhaul would make the country more just, but the opposition fears it would throw criminal justice system into disarray.

Opposition parties and lawyers in India are raising concerns over the government replacing colonial-era criminal laws with new legislation, saying the move risks throwing the criminal justice system into disarray.

India on Monday implemented an overhaul of the criminal laws, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government said would make the country more just.

The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 has replaced the Indian Penal Code, 1860; the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 replaces the Indian Evidence Act, 1872; and the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 has been implemented in place of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1882.

The new laws were approved by parliament in December during Modi’s previous term, with the government saying they aim to “give justice, not punishment”. It says they were needed as colonial laws had been at the core of the criminal justice system for more than a century.

Among the key changes is replacement of the sedition law frequently used as a tool of suppression, after its enactment under British colonial rule to jail Indian freedom fighters.

Laws dealing with sexual assault have been strengthened, while a previous law criminalising sodomy has been removed. Other key changes include the amount of time police can hold a suspect rising from 15 days to 60, and, in some special cases, up to 90.

India’s top judge DY Chandrachud praised the new laws as a “watershed moment for our society”.

But the opposition said they were rolled out without a discussion in the parliament, while other critics said it could worsen an already glacially slow pace of