The New Architecture Of Crimes In India: A Critical Analysis Of Reclassification Under The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023
- IJLLR Journal
- 1 day ago
- 2 min read
Yashveena, Amity Law School, Amity University, Mohali, Punjab, India
ABSTRACT
The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (BNS) signifies a major redrafting of India's substantive criminal law since the Indian Penal Code (IPC) of 1860 was enacted. In doing so, the BNS abandoned the colonial-era code and brought about a dramatic change in the way criminal offences were structured and classified, showing an effort to bring the law into line with social realities, technology, and constitutional values of the current times. The BNS's reclassification not only changes the classification of offences as cognizable or non-cognizable but also changes the features of the crimes, recalibrates the sentencing ranges, restructures the chapters of the books covering violent and socio-economic crimes, and most importantly, it adopts a victim-centric approach, especially with respect to gender-based violence, organized crime, and cyber-enabled harms. These modifications affect far- ranging powers of the police, prosecutorial discretion, judicial decision- making, and also the experiences of victims and accused persons in the criminal justice system. By synthesizing criminological theory, constitutional doctrine, comparative criminal law, and the ground realities of crime administration in India, this paper first sets out to evaluate these changes. The paper poses a question on whether the reclassification is supported by evidence-based criminology or is simply a move towards an increased punitive approach and a higher State power. The findings suggest that in many respects, the BNS project is one of modernization, victim protection and decolonization; however, there is a simultaneous risk of exacerbating the problem of over-criminalization, increasing the powers of the police and intensifying incarceration without corresponding increases in investigative capacity or procedural safeguards. Reforms leading to increased cognizability, enhanced punishments, and the formation of broad offence categories are likely to cause discretion issues, misuse of powers, and constitutional guarantees of liberty and due process being pushed aside. Notwithstanding this, the paper contends that the success of the Indian criminal law reform initiative cannot be gauged by the mere-floor of reclassification of offences. Real change in substance requires the embedding of structural criminological reforms, consistent investigative and forensic infrastructure, restorative justice models, and close empirical research of how laws work on the ground. The BNS, if not taking such an integrated approach, runs the risk of merely replacing one inflexible structure with another rather than producing a transformative, rights-respecting criminal justice system as demanded by a modern democratic order.
Keywords: Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, Criminal Law Reclassification, Cognizable and Non-Cognizable Offences, Proportionality and Sentencing Reform, Victim-Centric Criminal Justice, Over-Criminalisation
