The All India Lawyers Union (AILU) has condemned the suspension of Opposition MPs from Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha for the remainder of the winter session of the Parliament ahead of introducing three crucial Bills related to criminal laws. The union termed it as “undemocratic passing of new criminal law Bills’.
Three Bills—Bharatiya Nyaya (Second) Sanhita 2023, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha (Second) Sanhita, 2023 and Bharatiya Sakshya (Second) Bill, 2023—were introduced in the Parliament.
AILU president Bikas Ranjan Bhattacharya and general secretary P.V. Surendranath, in a statement on December 21 (Thursday), observed that these Bills were hurriedly passed in Lok Sabha after the suspension of Opposition MPs en masse.
They said it was against the fundamental principles of Parliamentary democracy and democratic legislative process. “All India Lawyers Union, jurists, academics, former judges, advocates and the entire legal fraternity have been objecting to these Bills and pointing out the unconstitutional oppressive provisions in the Bills, which are against fundamental rights such as the right to privacy, right to freedom of thought and expression, personal liberty and human rights,” they said.
They said that the objections raised by various sections of the society including the AILU were not considered by the Central government. “Most of the provisions of the Bills are draconian in nature, which would facilitate the police authoritarianism and police raj suppressing dissent, personal liberty and freedom of individuals,” the statement said.
Mr. Bhattacharya observed that in the place of 124A of the IPC (sedition), more draconian provisions have been incorporated in these Bills by which any criticism and campaign against oppressive or discriminatory actions against a particular community, religion or minority in terms of language, religion or territory can be branded as “crime against integrity of the nation”, which is punishable with life imprisonment.
The AILU called upon all its units, activists and the legal fraternity to protest against this “undemocratic authoritative action” of the Union government.
