Union Home Minister Amit Shah announced a transformative plan to revolutionize India’s criminal justice system, declaring that within five years, justice, from the filing of a FIR to a Supreme Court verdict, will be delivered within three years. Speaking at a ceremony in Lucknow in the presence of CM Yogi Adityanath, where 60,244 new police constables were initiated into the Uttar Pradesh Police. He revealed plans of creating 2 new criminal laws apart from the already in existence BNS. They will be called Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BSA). The new laws will replace the colonial era IPC (Indian Penal code), Code of Criminal Procedure, and Indian Evidence Act and streamline justice by use of technology.
The Indian courts are notorious for their glacial pace at delivering justice. Mocked often by the famous ‘tareekh pe tareekh’ quote. Over 5 crore cases pending in India still. 61.7 Lakhs account in high courts and over 80k in the Supreme Court. The promise of a 3 year timeline by 2030 is both outrageous and monumenal. Technology driven attempts at judicial level like Delhi’s E-Zero FIR system for cybercrimes stand as proof of concept. Home Minister Shah was see praisinv the Uttar Pradesh government’s transparency in police recruitment, hailing it as a model for systemic integrity in alliance with PM Modi’s vision of a “new India” by 2047.
The plan however must endure heavy challenges. The Indian judiciary has chronic judicial vacancies with 20% of the post remaining unfille. On top of this, inadequate infrastructure too will provide hindrance. The Supreme Court recently ruled that 3 years of legal practice is mandatory if one seeks to become a civil judge, thereby creating even more vacancy. Even if the new laws will provide support, to make these loft goals a reality, a round of robist funding, better bureaucracy and issue redressal is necessary.
