Indian National Developmental, Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) partners could approach the Supreme Court to challenge some of the provisions of the Bharatiya Nyay (Second) Sanhita Bill, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha (Second) and Bharatiya Samanta (Second) Bill that seek to replace the existing criminal laws.
Informed sources claimed that this was discussed at a meeting of floor leaders of INDIA partners, convened by Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday. There is, however, no official word on it yet.
Congress general secretary (communication) Jairam Ramesh, in a post on X, accused the government of getting Opposition members suspended only to pass the Bill without listening to best legal minds on the subject in Parliament.
“Today the Home Minister got the 3 draconian Criminal Justice Bills passed in the Lok Sabha without any informed dissent. Tomorrow he will get them passed in the Rajya Sabha too without any different viewpoint expressed on them by the best legal minds. Now you know why 144 INDIA MPs were thrown out of both Houses,” Mr. Ramesh said in a post.
Opposition parties from the INDIA bloc are opposed to the Bill and have argued that some of its provisions will lead to a “police state”.
“These three criminal Bills lay the foundations of transforming India into a totalitarian police state,” Congress MP Manish Tewari had said on Tuesday.
The party had hoped to field top legal minds such as P. Chidambaram, Abhishek Singhvi and Mr. Tewari on the Bill in both Houses of Parliament but the mass suspensions have kept INDIA bloc members away from participating in the proceedings.
