The Constitutional Validity Of Bns

The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita retains Most of the IPC’s crimes.  It includes community service as a type of punishment.  Sedition is no longer considered an offense.  Instead, a new crime has been created for acts that undermine India’s sovereignty, unity, and integrity. Terrorism is now included as a crime under the BNS.  It is described as an act intended to undermine the country’s unity, integrity, and security, intimidate the general people, or disrupt public order. Organized crime has been included as an offense.  It includes crimes including kidnapping, extortion, and cybercrime done on behalf of a criminal organization.  Petty organized crime is now punishable as well. Murder committed by a group of five or more people based on certain identification markers such as caste, language, or personal belief shall be punishable by seven years to life in jail or execution.

The constitutional validity of BNS

The Supreme Court’s decision to reject the Union government’s request to defer hearings on petitions challenging the sedition law has refocused attention on this colonial-era legislation. The government had stated that the sedition statute would be repealed since the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), or the new Indian Penal Code, was already being ratified by parliament.

However, the court ruled that the BNS will take effect prospectively, rather than retrospectively. As a result, to determine the destiny of all individuals who have already been charged under the sedition law, the court was required to rule on its validity. It made its position plain last year when it requested that the government suspend the sedition statute and not file any fresh FIRs under the IPC’s Section 124(A), which encompasses the charge of sedition.

The Supreme Court’s rejection of the Centre’s request to postpone the hearing in the case is a clear example of judicial opposition to the law. The fight against the harsh provisions of Section 124(A) will last long after the Supreme Court rules on their constitutionality. This is because all of the offenses stated in Section 124(A) are mentioned in Section 152 of the new BNS. The term “sedition” is not used in the new bill, but the meaning of “acts endangering the sovereignty, unity, and integrity of India” has been expanded, and the punishment has been made more severe. The government has made it clear that it does not seek to repeal the sedition statute.

The Law Commission advised against repealing the sedition law in its entirety. The panel urged that the sedition statute be preserved with certain revisions in its 279th report, which was tabled earlier this year. The government has taken the commission’s advice. But the Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, is divided on this question. The government’s request for deferment was an attempt to postpone the case to a later date when the court would be more sympathetic to its reasoning. The citizens’ right to free expression and the freedom to question the ruling authority are at issue here.

Analyzing the shift from Section 124A to the new Section 152 of the BNS reveals that the latter, while hailed as a retreat from colonial relics, may inadvertently entrench us further in such legacies. While Clause 152 is portrayed as a transformational, postcolonial evolution, its text reflects a more restrictive approach, potentially serving as a tool for the state to curb democratic discourse. Terms like’ subversive actions’ and ‘feelings of separatist activities’ are ambiguous, increasing the possibility of misapplication and misuse. History teaches us that once legitimized, repression instruments can cast long and gloomy shadows over civil liberties. Scholars and the general public must study this law critically rather than taking it at face value. The course of our democratic future is dependent on this examination.

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