The three criminal laws to replace the IPC, CrPC and Indian Evidence Act come into force today

90-99 per cent of the so-called new laws are a cut, copy and paste job. A task that could have been completed with a few amendments to the existing three laws has been turned into a wasteful exercise

Yes, there are a few improvements in the new laws and we have welcomed them. They could have been introduced as Amendments

On the other hand, there are several retrograde provisions. Some changes are prima facie unconstitutional. MPs who were members of the Standing Committee have poured over the provisions and written detailed dissent notes to the three Bills

The government did not rebut or answer any of the criticisms in the dissent notes. There was no worthwhile debate in Parliament

Law scholars, Bar Associations, judges and lawyers have in numerous articles and seminars pointed out the grave deficiencies in the three new laws. No one in government has cared to answer the questions

It is another case of bulldozing three existing laws and replace them with three new Bills without adequate discussion and debate

The initial impact will be to throw the administration of criminal justice into disarray

In the medium term, numerous challenges to the laws will be instituted in various Courts

In the long term, further changes must be made to the three laws to bring them in conformity with the Constitution and the modern principles of criminal jurisprudence

~ P. Chidambaram, MP (RS)