THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Indian Police Foundation (IPF), a think-tank consisting of retired and serving police officers, civil servants, lawyers and academic scholars working for police reforms in the country, has appealed to the parliamentary committee of the ministry of home affairs to carry out more consultations and systemic changes before making fundamental changes to the criminal justice system. The committee is considering the three criminal law bills recently introduced by Parliament.
The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) Bill, the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) Bill, and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BSA) Bill were introduced this year to replace the Indian Penal Code, 1860, the Criminal Procedure, 1973 and the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 respectively.
Following an exhaustive study and detailed comparison, the IPF found that the core of the proposed bills is the same as the existing acts. “A comparative reading of the existing acts along the new bills led to disappointment,” said a memorandum submitted to the parliamentary committee by the IPF.
“The existing and the proposed laws are the same. Within the BNS, only 13 clauses contain genuine material, with some modifications appearing in 139 clauses when compared to the IPC. Yet, many of the changes are nominal. On the contrary, a staggering 204 clauses remain identical to those in the IPC,” it said.
“We could not find any major changes in the new bills,” said IPF founder president and former DGP of Assam-Meghalaya N Ramachandran. “Many of the section numbers have been changed. This will create numerous problems in future. The British colonial administration used the police to suppress the natives by giving extensive power to the police. The state has the responsibility to protect the rights of the citizen. However, unfortunately the colonial character is continuing,” he told TNIE.
The IPF also recommended tackling custodial violence, separate custody management centres or central lock-ups at circle, sub-division or district levels.
“The custody centres should have all basic facilities like full CCTV coverage, lock-ups etc. There should also be integrity and fairness of the interrogation process. For this crucial measures should be established under law. An interrogation room should be linked to the custody centres,” the memorandum said.
“IPF recommends that the confession of an accused be recorded in the presence of a lawyer with stringent protocols for sealing and submission of the recorded conversation to the magistrate. It is of the opinion that the deliberate practice of registering numerous FIRs in multiple police stations in the country, based on contents of electronic, print, social media contents need to be taken note by the new law,” it added. Former home secretary G K Pillai, former cabinet secretary K M Chandrasekhar and industrialist Deepak Parekh are part of the IPF.