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Defer Implementation of New Criminal Laws: Former Civil Servants to Centre

author The Wire Staff
Jun 21, 2024
Highlighting public 'concerns' over upcoming laws, the Constitutional Conduct Group has urged the government to hold an all-party meeting to develop a national consensus. They are set to come into force on July 1.  

New Delhi: Over 100 retired bureaucrats who served in the top positions in Union and state governments have appealed to the Union government to defer the implementation of three new criminal laws, which are to come into force on July 1.

On December 25, 2023, the President gave assent to the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023 (BNS), the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 2023 (BNSS), and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 (BSA). These new laws will replace the Indian Penal Code, 1860; Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898; and the Indian Evidence Act, 1872,

Highlighting public “concerns” over upcoming laws, the former civil servants urged the government to hold an all-party meeting to develop a national consensus on them.

“To ensure that the democratic ethos of our Republic is protected in letter and in spirit, we are of the view that it is incumbent on the Government of India to (i) defer the date (July 1, 2024) on which the three laws are to come into force and (ii) urgently call an all-party meeting to develop a national consensus on how to take these three new laws forward so as to completely remove all public concerns about the possible negative impact of these three new laws on constitutional rights and civil liberties,” the 109 signatories of the open letter said.

The letter was addressed to the President, Prime Minister, Union home minister, presidents of national and state parties, and members of parliament.

Reproduced below is the full text of the letter and the list of signatories.

§

CCG Open Letter:

Review of new criminal laws needed

21 June 2024

To

Hon’ble President of India
Hon’ble Prime Minister of India
Hon’ble Home Minister of India
Presidents of National Parties
Presidents of State Parties
Members of Parliament (Lok Sabha/Rajya Sabha)

Dear Madam/Sir,

Our group, the Constitutional Conduct Group, comprises former civil servants who have served in the All India and Central Services in various capacities. We have no affiliation with any political party but are strongly committed to the ideals enshrined in the Constitution of India.
2. On 25th December 2023, the President of India gave assent to the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023 (BNS), the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 2023 (BNSS), and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 (BSA). As notified by the Government of India, these new criminal laws are to take effect in a few days, on 1st July 2024.

3. These three criminal laws are second only to the Constitution of India in their importance in the daily lives of common people in the country, especially the most vulnerable and marginalised sections. Yet these three new complex criminal laws, which replace the entire legal edifice of criminal justice, were rushed through parliamentary approval without having to face critical questioning by the opposition in a public debate. As a result, a number of valid and important questions about the laws remain unanswered.

4. Wide concern has been expressed in great detail in public discourse over the last ten months since the drafts of these new laws were first introduced in August, 2023. However, the core issues raised have not  been addressed by the Union Government. These fall into three broad areas. First, the concern is that the new laws enable governments of the day (whether at the Union or State levels) to immobilize the practice of democracy by over-broad criminalization of  legitimate, non-violent dissent and opposition against the Governments, the ruling parties and the forces that back them. The second concern is that the new laws  will terrorize innocent civilians and honest public servants because they put in the hands of the Government of the day unguided, arbitrary and virtually unlimited power to selectively arrest,  detain, prosecute  and convict practically anyone they choose, including by branding them as terrorists and  as anti-national. Third, the concern is that the new laws in effect regularise extraordinary powers which should normally be available only in legitimate states of emergency as already provided in the Constitution . The effect of these laws, as currently approved, is that, once they come into effect, India will no longer be a functioning democracy.

5. Suffice it to say that the new laws are vulnerable to rampant political abuse, especially in today’s vitiated political atmosphere and the intolerance of Governments, both at the Centre and in the States, to dissent in any form and from any source. To ensure that the democratic ethos of our Republic is protected in letter and in spirit, we are of the view that it is incumbent on the Government of India to (i) defer the date (1st July 2024) on which the three laws are to come into force and (ii) urgently call an all-party meeting to develop a national consensus on how to take these three new laws forward so as to completely remove all public concerns about the possible negative impact of these three new laws on constitutional rights and civil liberties.

6. We urge the highest political executive of the Government of India, the members of both Houses of Parliament and leaders of political parties to ensure that these new laws do not hollow out our constitutional rights and jeopardise our democracy. We, therefore, appeal to all of you to take urgent steps to ensure that the enforcement of the new criminal statutes is deferred and the new criminal laws are reviewed at an all-party meeting to develop a national consensus.

SATYAMEVA JAYATE  

Yours faithfully,

 Constitutional Conduct Group (109 signatories, as below)  

1. Anita Agnihotri IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Department of Social Justice Empowerment, GoI
2. Anand Arni RAS (Retd.) Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI
3. Aruna Bagchee IAS (Retd.) Former Joint Secretary, Ministry of Mines, GoI
4. Sandeep Bagchee IAS (Retd.) Former Principal Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra
5. G. Balachandhran IAS (Retd.) Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal
6. Vappala Balachandran IPS (Retd.) Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI
7. Gopalan Balagopal IAS (Retd.) Former Special Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal
8. Chandrashekar Balakrishnan IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Coal, GoI
9. Sushant Baliga Engineering Services (Retd.) Former Additional Director General, Central PWD, GoI
10. Rana Banerji RAS (Retd.) Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI
11. Sharad Behar IAS (Retd.) Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh
12. Aurobindo Behera IAS (Retd.) Former Member, Board of Revenue, Govt. of Odisha
13. Madhu Bhaduri IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Portugal
14. K.V. Bhagirath IFS (Retd.) Former Secretary General, Indian Ocean Rim Association, Mauritius
15. Pradip Bhattacharya IAS (Retd.) Former Additional Chief Secretary, Development & Planning and Administrative Training Institute, Govt. of West Bengal
16. Nutan Guha Biswas IAS (Retd.) Former Member, Police Complaints Authority, Govt. of NCT of Delhi
17. Meeran C Borwankar IPS (Retd.) Former DGP, Bureau of Police Research and Development, GoI
18. Ravi Budhiraja IAS (Retd.) Former Chairman, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, GoI
19. Sundar Burra IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra
20. R. Chandramohan IAS (Retd.) Former Principal Secretary, Transport and Urban Development, Govt. of NCT of Delhi
21. Rachel Chatterjee IAS (Retd.) Former Special Chief Secretary, Agriculture, Govt. of Andhra Pradesh
22. Kalyani Chaudhuri IAS (Retd.) Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal
23. Purnima Chauhan IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Administrative Reforms, Youth Services & Sports and Fisheries, Govt. of Himachal Pradesh
24. Gurjit Singh Cheema IAS (Retd.) Former Financial Commissioner (Revenue), Govt. of Punjab
25. F.T.R. Colaso IPS (Retd.) Former Director General of Police, Govt. of Karnataka & former Director General of Police, Govt. of Jammu & Kashmir
26. Anna Dani IAS (Retd.) Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra
27. Vibha Puri Das IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Ministry of Tribal Affairs, GoI
28. P.R. Dasgupta IAS (Retd.) Former Chairman, Food Corporation of India, GoI
29. Pradeep K. Deb IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Deptt. Of Sports, GoI
30. Nitin Desai   Former Chief Economic Adviser, Ministry of Finance, GoI
31. M.G. Devasahayam IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Govt. of Haryana
32. Kiran Dhingra IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Ministry of Textiles, GoI
33. Sushil Dubey IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Sweden
34. A.S. Dulat IPS (Retd.) Former OSD on Kashmir, Prime Minister’s Office, GoI
35. Suresh K. Goel IFS (Retd.) Former Director General, Indian Council of Cultural Relations, GoI
36. S.K. Guha IAS (Retd.) Former Joint Secretary, Department of Women & Child Development, GoI
37. H.S. Gujral IFoS (Retd.) Former Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Govt. of Punjab
38. Meena Gupta IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Ministry of Environment & Forests, GoI
39. Ravi Vira Gupta IAS (Retd.) Former Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India
40. Wajahat Habibullah IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, GoI and former Chief Information Commissioner
41. Deepa Hari IRS (Resigned)  
42. Vivek Harinarain IAS (Retd.) Govt. of Tamil Nadu
43. Sajjad Hassan IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Govt. of Manipur
44. Siraj Hussain IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Department of Agriculture, GoI
45. Kamal Jaswal IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Department of Information Technology, GoI
46. Naini Jeyaseelan IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Inter-State Council, GoI
47. Najeeb Jung IAS (Retd.) Former Lieutenant Governor, Delhi
48. Sanjay Kaul IAS (Retd.) Former Principal Secretary, Govt. of Karnataka
49. Vinod C. Khanna IFS (Retd.) Former Additional Secretary, MEA, GoI
50. Gita Kripalani IRS (Retd.) Former Member, Settlement Commission, GoI
51. Ish Kumar IPS (Retd.) Former DGP (Vigilance & Enforcement), Govt. of Telangana and former Special Rapporteur, National Human Rights Commission
52. Sudhir Kumar IAS (Retd.) Former Member, Central Administrative Tribunal
53. Harsh Mander IAS (Retd.) Govt. of Madhya Pradesh
54. Amitabh Mathur IPS (Retd.) Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI
55. Lalit Mathur IAS (Retd.) Former Director General, National Institute of Rural Development, GoI
56. Aditi Mehta IAS (Retd.) Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Rajasthan
57. Sonalini Mirchandani IFS (Resigned) GoI
58. Malay Mishra IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Hungary
59. Satya Narayan Mohanty IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary General, National Human Rights Commission
60. Sudhansu Mohanty IDAS (Retd.) Former Financial Adviser (Defence Services), Ministry of Defence, GoI
61. Anup Mukerji IAS (Retd.) Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Bihar
62. Deb Mukharji IFS (Retd.) Former High Commissioner to Bangladesh and former Ambassador to Nepal
63. Shiv Shankar Mukherjee IFS (Retd.) Former High Commissioner to the United Kingdom
64. Gautam Mukhopadhaya IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Myanmar
65. B.M. Nanta IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Govt. of Himachal Pradesh
66. Ramesh Narayanaswami IAS (Retd.) Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of NCT of Delhi
67. Surendra Nath IAS (Retd.) Former Member, Finance Commission, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh
68. P. Joy Oommen IAS (Retd.) Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Chhattisgarh
69. Amitabha Pande IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Inter-State Council, GoI
70. Maxwell Pereira IPS (Retd.) Former Joint Commissioner of Police, Delhi
71. Alok Perti IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Ministry of Coal, GoI
72. R. Poornalingam IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Ministry of Textiles, GoI
73. Rajesh Prasad IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to the Netherlands
74. R.M. Premkumar IAS (Retd.) Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra
75. Rajdeep Puri IRS (Resigned) Former Joint Commissioner of Income Tax, GoI
76. N.K. Raghupathy IAS (Retd.) Former Chairman, Staff Selection Commission, GoI
77. V.P. Raja IAS (Retd.) Former Chairman, Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission
78. V. Ramani

 

IAS (Retd.) Former Director General, YASHADA, Govt. of Maharashtra
79. M. Rameshkumar IAS (Retd.) Former Member, Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal
80. K. Sujatha Rao IAS (Retd.) Former Health Secretary, GoI
81. M.Y. Rao IAS (Retd.)  
82. Vijaya Latha Reddy IFS (Retd.) Former Deputy National Security Adviser, GoI
83. Julio Ribeiro IPS (Retd.) Former Director General of Police, Govt. of Punjab
84. Manabendra N. Roy IAS (Retd.) Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal
85. Aruna Roy IAS (Resigned)  
86. Deepak Sanan IAS (Retd.) Former Principal Adviser (AR) to Chief Minister, Govt. of Himachal Pradesh
87. S. Satyabhama IAS (Retd.) Former Chairperson, National Seeds Corporation, GoI
88. N.C. Saxena IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Planning Commission, GoI
89. Ardhendu Sen IAS (Retd.) Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal
90. Abhijit Sengupta IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Ministry of Culture, GoI
91. Aftab Seth IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Japan
92. Ashok Kumar Sharma IFoS (Retd.) Former MD, State Forest Development Corporation, Govt. of Gujarat
93. Ashok Kumar Sharma IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Finland and Estonia
94. Navrekha Sharma IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Indonesia
95. Pravesh Sharma IAS (Retd.) Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh
96. Raju Sharma IAS (Retd.) Former Member, Board of Revenue, Govt. of Uttar Pradesh
97. Rashmi Shukla Sharma IAS (Retd.) Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh
98. Avay Shukla IAS (Retd.) Former Additional Chief Secretary (Forests & Technical Education), Govt. of Himachal Pradesh
99. Mukteshwar Singh IAS (Retd.) Former Member, Madhya Pradesh Public Service Commission
100. Satyavir Singh IRS (Retd.) Former Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, GoI
101. Sujatha Singh IFS (Retd.) Former Foreign Secretary, GoI
102. Tara Ajai Singh IAS (Retd.) Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Karnataka
103. Tirlochan Singh IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, National Commission for Minorities, GoI
104. Prakriti Srivastava IFoS (Retd.) Former Principal Chief Conservator of Forests & Special Officer, Rebuild Kerala Development Programme, Govt. of Kerala
105. Anup Thakur IAS (Retd.) Former Member, National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission
106. P.S.S. Thomas IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary General, National Human Rights Commission
107. Geetha Thoopal IRAS (Retd.) Former General Manager, Metro Railway, Kolkata
108. Ashok Vajpeyi IAS (Retd.) Former Chairman, Lalit Kala Akademi
109. Rudi Warjri IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Colombia, Ecuador and Costa Rica

 

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