The Maharashtra state police is all set to implement three new criminal laws; Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), Bhartiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), and Bharatiya Sakshya Act (BSA), from Monday July 1. The British era Indian Penal Code, 1860, Criminal Procedure Code and Evidence Act would no longer be in effect for cases registered after June 30.
The Maharashtra police headquarters have circulated a ‘Crime Information Booklet’ to assist police officers in the transition from the old statutes to new ones.
With this booklet, the state police has also issued detailed Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to deal with offences against the human body, crimes against women and children, property offences, economic offences, organised crimes, terrorist acts and accidents.
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Urging policemen to use this booklet to ease their transition, DGP Rashmi Shukla in the welcome note of the 95 page booklet, said, “An excellent database of the system has been prepared in the form of this booklet. With the help of this, confusion regarding the sections and investigations while filing cases can be simply avoided.
Navi Mumbai police commissioner and senior IPS officer Milind Bharambe prepared this booklet, which has been circulated to all the district police, commissionerates, offices of IGs and DIGs on June 26.
Mumbai Police, too is gearing up to implement and function with the new Sanhitas (laws) from July 1st 2024.
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Commissioner of police, Vivek Phansalkar, said, “We have conducted a series of training sessions for our officers and personnel. So far, in more than 30 training sessions, close to 1,800 officers and 8,030 police personnel have undergone training and police stations are equipped to register and investigate crimes as per the new provisions of the BNSS and the BNS. Soft copies of comparative charts and notes of the old and new laws have been prepared and distributed to them for ready reference.”
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The Indian Express visited various police stations in the city to understand how policemen plan to adopt this change in system. “We have been undergoing training in batches for the past three weeks, getting lectures on how to apply new laws and understanding the purpose behind these changes. There would definitely be certain challenges as the new laws significantly rely on technological investigations or use technology for accuracy and transparency,” said an inspector from the Bhoiwada police station.
Another officer said, “We have been asked to attend webinars as a mandatory task. Those who couldn’t attend these live sessions due to work, have access to recorded material.”
There are WhatsApp groups created where written documents and amendments are shared. Every police station has a group and appointed admins of the group are connected to larger groups.
Inspector Kalpana Jadhav from Pant Nagar Police station said, “As it takes time to learn things, it does so for unlearning as well. It will take around a year or so to settle with the new system, mistakes are bound to happen but we will have to navigate through, there is no alternative.”
Many police recruitment coaching institutes have taken initiatives to help out by creating exclusive video content on the new laws and providing it to POCs( Persons of contact) appointed by each police station. One inspector said that these institutes mainly do it for marketing purposes, but it is helpful nonetheless.
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Talking about changes in the new laws, a police officer said that the new laws focused on making procedure easier for victims. “The new statutes will reduce the cases of delay in filing of cases and also make it easier for complainants, as FIRs can now be filed irrespective of jurisdiction. Earlier, policemen would send the victim to the police station under whose jurisdiction the crime took place. But, now police will file a Zero FIR and transfer the matter to the concerned police station. “Previously, this used to be done only in cases of crime against women and children,” the officer said.
The new laws have made provisions for compulsory videography of crime scenes in cases of serious crimes. An officer pointed out that this new provision, in his opinion, may not go down well in certain procedural laws, such as the NDPS Act.
The new laws also have provisions for filing complaints online and electronic summons via SMS.
As per the new laws, if a suspect is aged over 60-years old or is handicapped, and needs to be arrested in a crime that has punishment of 3 years or less, then to effect arrest in such case, the investigating officer must secure prior permission from the Deputy superintendent of Police or an assistant commissioner of police rank officer.
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While the soon to be obsolete Indian Penal Code had 511 sections, the new Bhartiya Nyay Sanhita has 358 sections.
Satyanarayan Chaudhary, Joint Commissioner of Police, Law and Order, Mumbai, said, “A large number of the police force has been covered under training. We would execute the new laws post midnight on Sunday. We will ensure that the new laws are implemented effectively and properly.”
