Consultative approach

New criminal laws need wider discussion

In the final hours of the recent session of Parliament, the government introduced three Bills that, if passed, will have far-reaching effects on how Indians are governed. The Bills are to replace the rule books for criminal policing in India. They are to be called the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, or BNS, which is meant to replace the Indian Penal Code; the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, or BNSS, intended in place of the Code of Criminal Procedure; and the Bharatiya Sakshya Bill, which will supersede the Indian Evidence Act. The first question that many can justifiably ask is why the new