Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita: Decolonising or Reinforcing Colonial Ideas?

Authors

Anushka Pandey, National Law School of India University, Bengaluru
Preeti Pratishruti Dash, National Law School of India University, BengaluruFollow
Mrinal Satish, National Law School of India University, BengaluruFollow

type

Blog post

source publication

The NLS Blog

Abstract

In December 2023, the Indian Parliament enacted three new criminal codes to replace the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (‘IPC’), the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 (‘CrPC’), and the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 (‘IEA’). The stated aim of these legislations is to ‘decolonise’ criminal laws of the British era. This piece focuses on the colonial legacy of the IPC and analyses how its replacement—the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita—falls short of its stated goal of decolonisation. The authors argue that the BNS expands powers of the state and the police, retains offences grounded in archaic morality, and widens the punitive network through broad and vaguely defined offences.

Year

1-25-2024

Recommended Citation

Anushka Pandey, Preeti Pratishruti Dash and Mrinal Satish, 'Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita: Decolonising or Reinforcing Colonial Ideas?' (The NLS Blog, 25 Jan 2024)