New Criminal Laws: Fortifying The Safety Of Women And Children
- IJLLR Journal
- 5 hours ago
- 1 min read
Ishani Narayan, Dr Ram Manohar Lohia National Law University
INTRODUCTION
The rapidly increasing rates of crime against women and children in India have become a burning issue. According to the annual reports of the National Crime Records Bureau, there were almost 4.4 lakh cases registered in 2022 of crimes against women, and approximately 1 lakh 63 thousand cases were registered of crimes against children in India. This rapid growth in the numbers shows that the criminal laws in the country have been inefficacious in curbing the rates of crime against women and children. Perceiving the situation, the Government Of India decided to repeal the existing criminal laws by making transformative amendments and creating three new criminal laws for the country. In December 2023, the new criminal law bill was passed by the Parliament Of India, which will come into effect from July 2024. The Hon'ble Home Minister of India, Mr. Amit Shah, while introducing the bill of the new criminal laws, asserted to the nation that the new criminal laws aim to provide justice to the citizens and not just punishments. The objective of the new criminal laws is to make the criminal justice system justice-driven, transparent and swift, women-centric, gender-neutral, and technologically proficient. In this essay, we will discuss the transformative amendments done by the Government to the old British-era criminal laws and the introduction of new criminal laws aiming to shore up the safety of women and children in India.
Keywords: New criminal laws, women-centric changes, gender neutrality, stringent punishments.
