At what point should one modernize themselves if they want to be truly strapped to a rocket? When is it time to break free of the shackles of archaic statutes and leverage new advancements to keep yourself ahead of the curve? For India, that time seems to be now. In 2024, it seems like the pillars of colonial-era laws would be giving way to a new justice system in India with 3 new criminal laws: the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita & the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam. But, will anything actually change?
And why is the time now for such a change?
According to Ankoosh K Mehta, Partner (Co-Head – White Collar & Investigation) at Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, “With India evolving in every sphere, be it economically or sociologically, it’s gearing up to be one of the biggest players in the world market, so there has to be an equally robust and upgraded legal and compliance system. And these laws make it more streamlined with a strong emphasis on the usage of technology and do away with the dependency on infrastructure and humanpower, hopefully resulting in the shortening of the period of time it takes to begin and conclude an investigation & conclude a trial”.
But, is this just old wine in a new bottle?
Mehta remarks, “With these new laws, there are new angles of technology and a compression of criminal trials by doing away with archaic provisions with the ultimate goal of ‘Indianizing’ the criminal legal system… When a person or a corporate is in a position of being accused of a crime, a victim of a crime or a witness to an incident, a reliance on technology would indicate the ability to effectively upload an FIR or complaint on a secured computer network and an ability to use a forensic expert to go and gather evidence, leading to a smaller chance of tampering”.
And what about the trial-in-absentia provision? Could that lead to an issue in terms of due process or the rights of the accused?
Mehta declares, “There are a couple of infamous public personalities who have left India for various reasons and India may be finding it difficult to bring them back. There may be ways to bring them back, but while the attempt takes place, the focus changes, assets are depleted and investor faith is lost. So, an in-absentia trial may be a step in the right direction to solve situations for people who have let India down, have moved away and are not willing to come back and stand trial”.
And could harsher punishment be a stronger deterrent to crime?
“Harsher punishment should be combined with reformation. Time has to be spent on reformation for people, who in the heat of the moment, may have committed criminal acts”, quips Mehta.
Watch the full interaction here:
