Bhubaneswar: The ruling establishment, in the guise of introducing ‘Swadeshi’ criminal laws in the country, has instead reinforced the draconian aspects of colonial era IPC in the Bharatiya Nagarika Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), said former Madaras High Court judge, Justice K. Chandru. Speaking at a session organized by Student’s Federation of India (SFI) at the Press Club of Odisha here Sunday, Justice Chandru said the BNSS, which got passed with a brute majority in the parliament, has conferred higher authority to law enforcement agencies which could potentially be used by the police to crush civil liberties and rights.
“In the recent times, when the Supreme Court has stressed that ‘bail’ is the rule and ‘jail’ is an exception, such moves only subjugate the fundamental liberty of citizens”, he asserted. Justice Chandru said despite much hue and cry about the ‘Sedition Act’, which fell under Section 124A in the erstwhile IPC, the new law has rephrased it and added a new context to it under Section 152 of the BNS (Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita). On the recent introduction of Mamata Banerjee-led TMC government’s Aparajita Bill in West Bengal which seeks to impose death penalty for different kinds of sexual violence against women, he said the provision for stricter punishment in criminal laws will yield lesser impact in prevention of crime. “Counseling measures in the society must be upgraded to keep these activities at check,” he added.
Former DGP Odisha Amiya Bhushan Tripathi said the hushhush manner in which the ruling establishment cleared up the bill in the Parliament must be given a thought. “The majoritarianism policies of the ruling-BJP could not be overlooked if one would see how scores of Opposition MPs were expelled in the Parliament while passing the bill. This move was justified by Home Minister Amit Shah who said around 1,000 experts were taken into consideration during making of the law,” he added. The session was attended by SFI volunteers, students and academicians from across the state.
DEBADURLLAV HARICHANDAN, OP