New Delhi: The Bar Council of India has asked the various bar associations across India to refrain from holding strikes and protests against the three new criminal laws that will come into force from July 1.
In a press release on June 26 it said that it has received representations from bar associations and councils against The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), The Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), and The Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BSA). The release is signed by the BCI’s secretary, Srimanto Sen.
The first drafts of these Bills, tabled in August 2023, were reviewed by the Parliamentary Standing Committee which published a report on them on November 10, 2023, hailing and approving them. “The character of the Bills remains fundamentally anti-democratic,” G. Mohan Gopal noted on The Wire.
The 17th Lok Sabha passed these laws in December, 2023, when as many as 97 opposition MPs had been suspended.
“Concerns have been raised that several provisions of these new laws are perceived to be anti-people, more draconian than the colonial-era laws they intend to replace, and pose a serious threat to the fundamental rights of citizens,” the bar council has noted, naming Supreme Court Bar Association president Kapil Sibal and senior advocates Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Mukul Rohatgi, Vivek Tankha, P. Wilson, Dushyant Dave, Indira Jaising and others as luminaries who have been opposed to the rollout of the laws.
The laws are meant to overhaul the Indian Penal Code, the Code of Criminal Procedure and the Indian Evidence Act. However, critics are not convinced they bring in reforms.
Also read: Why Indira Jaising Thinks the New Criminal Laws Should Be Deferred
The bar council mentioned that several bar associations have also called for a fresh examination of the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), “asserting that these laws contravene the principles of fundamental rights and natural justice.”
It then says, “After careful consideration of these demands and concerns, the Bar Council of India requests all Bar Associations to refrain from any form of agitation or protest at this juncture.”
The BCI has promised the initiation of discussions with the Union home and law ministers to “convey the concerns of the legal fraternity.”
“The BCI will also seek the intervention of the Hon’ble Union Minister for Environment, Mr. Bhupendra Yadav, who is an advocate, to mediate in this matter,” it has said.
Additionally, the BCI also requested all bar associations and senior advocates to submit specific provisions of the “new laws they deem unconstitutional or detrimental, to facilitate a productive dialogue with the government.”
After receiving the suggestions, the BCI said, it will constitute a committee comprising “noted senior advocates, former judges, impartial social activists, and journalists to propose necessary amendments to these new laws.”
It recalled Union home minister Amit Shah’s assurance at the International Lawyers’ Conference of the BCI in September 2023, “where it was stated that the Government is willing to amend any provision of these laws if valid reasons and plausible suggestions are presented.”
It then said that there is no cause for immediate concern and “no immediate necessity for agitation, protests, or strikes in relation to this issue.”
