The government, by introducing in the Lok Sabha three penal Bills which is says “aim to decolonise the Indian justice system,” has rightly exercised its prerogative. Earlier governments dithered over this move for years. However, in matters of law-making and reform, mere initiative may not be sufficient.
In this case, we need to particularly focus on three points. The first is that penal law-making and reform are serious issues which require deep deliberation and empirical validation. Second, we must keep in mind the diversity of considerations of substantive and procedural laws, and engage with the two sets separately. Substantive laws govern how people behave; they define criminal offences and specify punishment, whereas procedural laws are aimed at enforcement agencies that are to provide safeguards and due process even to the “worst” offenders. Third, we need to realise that penal laws are an instrument for actualising and propagating a wide variety of interests as per the constitutional vision and the dominant ideology. Which interests need protection and priority is a matter of democratic process. In view of these issues, let us analyse the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Bill.
