Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram and Trinamool Congress leader Derek O’Brien have written to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs on the set of organisations and experts the panel should consult while reviewing the criminal law Bills.
The letter, sent on Wednesday and addressed to committee chairperson Brijlal, also laid out the timeline of consultation with each set of organisations or experts.
The set of organisations listed in the letter include Bar Councils of different states, the Bar Council of India, the Supreme Court Bar Association, international organisations, human rights organisations, media organisations, and law enforcement agencies.
The letter also recommended a consultation with judges of the Supreme Court and the high courts, senior practitioners of criminal law, experts on juvenile justice, experts on cybercrime and technology, prison officials and reform advocates, legal scholars, academic institutions, and MPs, MLAs and members of local councils.
The letter suggested an “inclusive consultation with the general public, including women, Dalits, religious minorities, adivasis, LGBTQ persons, or persons with disabilities”.
They suggested that the cumulative time period for consultation with all these organisations is to be 18 months, with the most amount of time — six months each — accorded to MPs and judges of the apex court and high courts.
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“These laws will affect the lives of the poor, and therefore must be crafted with utmost care,” the letter stated.
The House committee is currently examining the three criminal law Bills introduced in the last session of Parliament. The Bills, titled ‘Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023’, ‘Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023’, and ‘Bharatiya Sakshya, 2023’, were introduced on the last day of the Monsoon Session and will replace, respectively, the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and the Evidence Act.
The Bills were referred to the standing committee for examination. The standing committee has to submit its report on these Bills in three months, before they are tabled in the Winter Session of Parliament.