Unhappy with the list of witnesses being produced before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs, which is examining the Bills to replace the country’s criminal laws, the Opposition has submitted a list of 16 experts that includes senior advocate Fali S. Nariman, former Chief Justice U.U. Lalit, and Justice Madan Lokur, a former Supreme Court judge.
It was also suggested that experts being called should include Supreme Court and High Court judges, members of Bar Councils, legal scholars, prison officials and reform activists, ethnic and religious leaders, as well as cyber crime experts, among others.
Another Opposition MP in the panel, meanwhile, pointed out that based on the current pace of scrutiny, it would take at least one and a half years to go through the three proposed legislations. “These legislations will impact the poorest of poor and still we are rushing through them without paying the due attention, which is very unfortunate,” he said.
Certain aspects of the new Bills were also welcomed by the Opposition MPs, like the provision for zero FIR and making online the whole procedure - from filing a complaint to its disposal.
Earlier, Opposition MPs had complained about not being provided adequate opportunity to speak, and about the way the minutes of meetings were being recorded. On Wednesday, two Opposition MPs spoke and another MP was given time to speak in the next meeting of the panel.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs is examining the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Bill, 2023; the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita Bill, 2023; and the Bharatiya Sakshya Bill, 2023 that were introduced by the government on the last day of the Monsoon Session to replace Indian Penal Code (IPC), Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) and the Evidence Act.
The standing committee has to submit its report in three months and the Bills are to be tabled in the Winter Session of Parliament. BJP Rajya Sabha member Brij Lal is the chairman of the committee.
