The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) (

IAST The International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration (IAST) is a transliteration scheme that allows the lossless romanisation of Indic scripts as employed by Sanskrit and related Indic languages. It is based on a scheme that emerged during ...

: ''Bhāratīya Nyāya Saṃhitā;'' ) is the official criminal code in India. It came into effect on 1 July, 2024 after being passed by the parliament in December 2023 to replace the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Background and timeline

*On 11 August 2023,

Amit Shah Amit Anil Chandra Shah (born 22 October 1964) is an Indian politician currently serving as the Minister of Home Affairs since 2019 and the first Minister of Co-operation of India since 2021. He served as the President of the Bharatiya Janata P ...

, Minister of Home Affairs, introduced the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Bill, 2023 in the Lok Sabha. *On 12 December 2023, the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Bill, 2023 was withdrawn. *On 12 December 2023, the Bharatiya Nyaya (Second) Sanhita Bill, 2023 was introduced in Lok Sabha. *On 20 December 2023, the Bharatiya Nyaya (Second) Sanhita Bill, 2023 was passed in Lok Sabha. *On 21 December 2023, the Bharatiya Nyaya (Second) Sanhita bill, 2023 was passed in Rajya Sabha. *On 25 December 2023, the Bharatiya Nyaya (Second) Sanhita Bill, 2023 received the assent of the President of India.

Changes

In the BNS, 20 new offences have been added to and 19 provisions in the repealed IPC have been dropped. The punishment of imprisonment has been increased for 33 offences, and fines have been increased for 83 offences. A mandatory minimum punishment has been introduced for 23 offences. A sentence of community service has been introduced for six offences. * Offences against the body: The BNS retains the provisions of the IPC on murder, abetment of suicide, assault and causing grievous hurt. It adds new offences such as organised crime, terrorism, and murder or grievous hurt by a group on certain grounds. * Sexual offences against women: The BNS retains the provisions of the IPC on rape, voyeurism, stalking and insulting the modesty of a woman. It increases the threshold for the victim to be classified as an adult, in the case of gang rape, from 16 to 18 years of age. * Offences against property: The BNS retains the provisions of the IPC on theft, robbery, burglary and cheating. It adds new offences such as cybercrime and financial fraud. * Offences against the state: The BNS removes sedition as an offence. Instead, there is a new offence for acts endangering India's sovereignty, unity and integrity. * Offences against the public: The BNS adds new offences such as environmental pollution and human trafficking.

Debate

Like Indian Penal Code, the BNS retains the marital rape exception. It retains the value laden phrase ‘outraging the modesty of women’ instead of replacing it with the gender-neutral term ‘sexual assault’. It provides inadequate protection to victims of non-consensual intimate imagery. It does not include any provision for offences involving rape of males or of transgender individuals. Provision for offence for acts endangering ‘sovereignty or unity and integrity of India’, is ambiguous, with the potential to curtail freedom of speech or to stifle dissent. Assistant professor Faisal Fasih from West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences argued that Extensive power is given to the state or the police. It is not in conformity with the advertisement for making the laws. One may wonder how can penal codes be justice-oriented, these are about penal provisions said by

Structure

The BNS comprises 20 chapters and 358 sections. Its structure is similar to that of the IPC. The outline of the Sanhita is as follows:

References

External links

Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita
from Ministry of Home Affairs {{Law enforcement in India Indian criminal law Codes of criminal procedure Evidence law 2023 in India