The three bills are set to be passed by Rajya Sabha on Thursday, clearing the way for the criminal justice system of the country to be significantly reframed.
Replying to the debate in Lok Sabha, where the opposition was almost entirely absent due to suspensions, home minister Amit Shah said the laws had shed their colonial antecedents and reflected “wholly Indian” ethos, marking a transition from focus in the colonial era on the intent to punish, to delivering equitable and time-bound justice.
“The three proposed criminal laws will free people from colonial mindset and its symbols,” Shah said, in what marked progress in the government’s de-colonisation project. “This is the first government which has fulfilled the promises it has mentioned in its manifesto. We have revoked Article 370, removed AFSPA in 70% areas in the north-eastern states, banned triple talaq and gave 33% reservation to women in Parliament,” he added.
The bills have clearly defined ‘terrorism’ as an offence and redefined ‘sedition’, which now includes actions against India instead of actions against the government of the day.
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