Centre likely to amend BNS to include a section on sexual crimes against men and transgender people

As three new penal laws come into force across the country from Monday despite objections from opposition-ruled states, Union government officials said states would be free to bring their own amendments to some provisions of the Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), which replaces the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC). The BNSS prescribes the procedure and conditions of arrest, bail and detention, among other things.

The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), which replaces the Indian Penal Code of 1860, may soon be amended by the Union government to include a missing section on sexual crimes against men and transgender people. A senior government official said that police officials would be asked to invoke other related sections of the BNS, such as false imprisonment and assault, for such complaints until an amendment is brought to correct this anomaly.

The Bharatiya Sakshya (BS), which replaces the Indian Evidence Act, 1872, is the third law to come into force as part of a major overhaul of the country’s criminal justice framework. From 12 noon on July 1, more than 650 district courts and 16,000 police stations across the country will have no option but to switch to the new system.

From July 1, offences will be registered under Section 173 of the BNSS instead of Section 154 of the CrPC. However, IPC and CRPC will run parallel to the new laws as several cases are still pending in court and some crimes committed before July 1 but reported later will have to be registered under IPC.

Hand-holding states

On June 21, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, asking for a delay in the implementation of the laws passed by Parliament in December 2023.

However, another senior government official said The Hindu that training and assistance have been provided in all states to help them adapt to the new system.

First Information Reports (FIRs) are filed through the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network Systems (CCTNS), a program under the National Crime Records Bureau. A major improvement to the CCTNS under the new laws will allow people to file an electronic FIR without having to visit a police station, as well as a Zero FIR, which can be filed regardless of the jurisdiction of the crime scene.

The official said changes have also been made in the CCTNS software to enable registration of FIRs in languages ​​other than English and Hindi. “Even when cases were registered under IPC, the police had the option to register cases in Tamil, Marathi and Gujarati, among others. Another patch has been added to facilitate filing under the new penal laws,” the official said.

Taking of evidence

The BNSS requires mandatory audio and video recording of search and seizure operations in all criminal cases – including the preparation of a list of seized items and witness signatures – and mandatory forensic examinations in all cases where an offence is punishable by a prison sentence of seven years or more. The recordings must be submitted electronically to the court “without delay”.

The Union Ministry of Home Affairs is testing eSakshya, a mobile application that will help police record the crime scene and search and seizure operations in a criminal case and upload the file to a cloud-based platform. Officials pointed out that the security of the cloud-based system where the data is stored is of utmost importance. The eSakshya platform is hosted by the National Informatics Centre.

India’s new penal laws: The Hindus detailed reporting

Preparations at state level

Depending on their capabilities, several states have also developed their own systems. For example, the Delhi Police has developed an e-Pramaan application that allows investigating officers to record a crime scene and generate a hash value and a certificate under Section 62 of the Bharatiya Sakshya.

“The Delhi Police has created a whitelist of mobile devices on which crime scene footage and search and seizures will be recorded. Only the devices on the list will be allowed to be used for recording. This has been done to maintain the confidentiality of the chain of custody,” the official said.

Uttarakhand Police has distributed tablets in every police station for audio and video recording purposes. Uttar Pradesh Police has approved a separate budget for police stations to procure tablets, pen drives, mobile phones, printers and other hardware items to comply with the provisions of the new Act.

However, the BNSS gives states until June 2029 to build their forensic capabilities. “Although forensics is mandatory for all crimes with a sentence of over seven years, not all states have the required capacity and trained officers. They have five years to train. Till then, they can use the available resources and even police officers can be trained to collect samples after undergoing training at a recognized institute,” the official said.