New Criminal Laws in Concurrent List, there should have been consultations with states: Stalin

"The replacement of the above mentioned three Acts has been done in haste without adequate deliberations and consultations. These enactments are falling within List III - concurrent list of the Constitution of India and hence extensive consultation ought to have been done with the State Government. The States were not given adequate time to express their views and the new laws were passed by the Parliament without the participation of the opposition parties," Stalin said in a letter written to Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin claimed that the new Criminal Laws enacted by the central government fall within the Concurrent List of the Constitution of India and hence there should have been extensive consultation with the state government. "The replacement of the above-mentioned three Acts has been done in haste without adequate deliberations and consultations. These enactments are falling within List III - concurrent list of the Constitution of India and hence extensive consultation ought to have been done with the State Government. The States were not given adequate time to express their views and the new laws were passed by the Parliament without the participation of the opposition parties," Stalin said in a letter written to Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday.

The Chief Minister said that all three criminal laws are named in Sanskrit which is violative of Article 348 of the Constitution. "The three Acts namely Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023; Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023; Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BSA), 2023 are all named in Sanskrit which is in clear violation of Article 348 of the Constitution of India. It is mandatory that all Acts passed by the Parliament shall be in English," Stalin said in the letter.

Pointing out certain errors in the enactments, Stalin said, "Section 103 of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) has two subsections for two distinct classes of murder but having the same punishment. There are some more provisions in BNSS and BNS which are ambiguous or self-contradictory." The Chief Minister also highlighted that the implementation of the three enactments needs detailed discussion with academic institutions and revision of syllabus of law syllabus.

"...the implementation of these new laws will require discussions with academic institutions and revision of syllabus for Law College students which require sufficient time," he said. Stressing on capacity building for proper implementation of the laws, Stalin said, "The capacity building and other technological requirements for the stakeholder departments i.e., Judiciary, Police, Prisons, Prosecution and Forensic need sufficient resources and time."

"It is also imperative to frame new rules and revise the existing forms and operating procedures in consultation with stakeholder departments which cannot be done in haste," he added. Stalin requested the central government to review the new enactments after taking into consideration the views of all the States and other key stakeholders and withhold the enactments already notified. (ANI)

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)