NEW DELHI, 5 Nov: A parliamentary committee scrutinising three bills to replace the existing criminal laws will meet on Monday to adopt draft reports, days after some opposition members had sought an extension for the panel to go through the measures in greater detail.
On 27 October, the standing committee on home could not adopt the three draft reports as some opposition members pressed for more time to study it. Some opposition members had urged panel chairperson Brij Lal to seek an extension of three months in its tenure and “stop bulldozing these bills for short-term electoral gain.”
For making a robust legislation that serves the marginalised, the committee should not adopt a final report in the next few days or in November. “We will be mocking the process of legislative scrutiny if we do so,” an opposition MP had said in a communication, according to opposition sources.
However, BJP sources said that the committee has engaged in an extensive consultation process and will meet its deadline of three months.
The committee will now meet on 6 November, according to a notice sent to the members for adopting the three drafts.
Sources said that the panel may adopt the draft reports despite protests by some of its members from the opposition parties.
Seeking a complete overhaul of colonial-era criminal laws, Home Minister Amit Shah had introduced in the Lok Sabha during the monsoon session three bills to replace the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, and the Indian Evidence Act, 1872, with the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, respectively.
The House later sent the bills after their introduction on 11 August to the committee for scrutiny and asked it to submit its report within three months.
Sources have said that the committee is likely to recommend a raft of amendments in the three bills but will be sticking to their Hindi names, something fiercely contested by opposition MPs, including from the DMK. They have demanded English names for the proposed laws, as well. (PTI)
