New criminal laws lay foundation of police raj, should be sent to JPC: Manish Tewari

New Delhi, Jul 1 (PTI) Congress leader Manish Tewari Monday said the three new criminals laws that came into force from July 1 lay the foundation of a police State, and they should be reviewed by a Joint Parliamentary Committee.

The three new criminal laws -- Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam -- rolled out across the country, bringing widespread changes in India's criminal justice system.

These laws replace the British-era Indian Penal Code, Code of Criminal Procedure and the Indian Evidence Act, respectively.

Tewari demanded the new criminal laws should not be implemented and rather sent to the Join Parliamentary Committee for a review because what the government has done lays the foundation of a police raj in the country.

The new laws bring in a modern justice system, incorporating provisions such as Zero FIR, online registration of police complaints, summonses through electronic modes such as SMS and mandatory videography of crime scenes for all heinous crimes.

They have tried to address some of the current social realities and crimes and provide a mechanism to effectively deal with these, keeping in view the ideals enshrined in the Constitution, official sources said.

Tewari further said that the two parallel processes of law have been created by the implementation of the new laws.

Cases registered before June 30 will be decided under the old laws and those registered from July 1 onwards will be decided under the new law. There are 3.4 crore cases pending in the judiciary and most of them are criminal cases, he said.

This is going to create a huge confusion in the judiciary, the Congress leader claimed.

Tewari further said the new laws will attack civil liberties, and lead to handcuffs coming back and a back door entry for the sedition law.

Any government is evaluated on five points which includes national security, he said, adding unfortunately the BJP-led NDA dispensation has failed on all these points.

It is expected that the government will tell in response to this discussion that "how much land of India is occupied by China and when will it be vacated." Tiwari raised the issue of unemployment.

This, government, he said, has run out of ideas. "It neither has any programme nor any policy on how to create employment in the country." Shrikant Shinde of the Shiv Sena praised the work done by the Modi government in its previous two terms and said more will be done in the next five years.

Targeting the main opposition party Congress, Shinde also said people cannot be misled again and again by creating a "false narrative" the Constitution is in danger. PTI SID SID TIR TIR