NEEDED REFORMS TO SPECIAL AND LOCAL LAWS

Why in the News?

The bills proposing reforms criminal laws such as Indian Penal Code (IPC), Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and Indian Evidence Act (IEA) have been tabled in the Parliament.

• But the proposed bills do not suggest any reforms in critical offences and procedures that are encompassed within the Special and Local Laws (SLLs).

Special and Local Laws (SLLs):

1. Nearly, 39.9% of all cognisable offences registered in 2021 were under SLLs. 
2. As per the Crime in India Statistics of 2021, of the total 61 lakh cognisable offences registered, 24.3 lakh offences were registered under SLLs alone.

Need for reform in SLLs:

1. Use of deficient, ambiguous and vague definitions of offences and terms in the acts.
   1. For example, SLLs such as the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (UAPA) and the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act, 1999 (MCOCA) have terms such as ‘terrorist act’, ‘unlawful activity’, ‘organised crime’, ‘organised crime syndicate’ etc., which suffer from such issues.
   2. The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 suffers from the issue of applicability to consensual sexual activities between minors.
   3. The Supreme Court in the case of P. Mohanraj versus M/s Shah Brothers Ispat Ltd. (2021), has referred to Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 fall squarely within the domain of civil wrongs but present under criminal provisions of the text.
   4. The universally accepted due process values are being diluted through SLLs. Examples include,
      1. powers of search and seizure under Section 43A of the UAPA
      2. admissibility of confessions recorded by police officers under Section 18 of the MCOCA
      3. stringent bail provisions provided for under
         • Section 43(D)(5) of the UAPA
         • Section 37 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985
         • Section 45 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) 2002 

SLLs to be included in the ambit of IPC, CrPC:

1. The idea of complete codification of all criminal laws inspired by Bentham’s idea of a “Pannomion”, an all-comprehensive collection of rules codified in a single place, was conceived in IPC and CrPC, to contain within its pages all criminal laws of the time.
2. It was decided to suitably amend it in situations requiring the creation of new offences, clarification of existing offences, and removal of inconsistencies.
3. The symbolic of the need to reform several aspects of our criminal laws was revealed in challenges to
   1. homosexuality under Section 377 in Navtej Johar versus Union of India (2018)
   2. sedition under Section 124A in S.G. Vombatkere versus Union of India (2022).
4. However, successive governments place increasing reliance on the SLLs, it becomes imperative to imbibe SLLS in the IPC as well as the CrPC.
   1. All SLLs which criminalise conduct should be placed as separate chapters within the larger structure of the penal code. 
   2. All SLLs which create a separate procedure for reporting of offences, arrest, investigation, prosecution, trial, evidence and bail should be included as separate procedures within the CrPC or as exceptions to the general provisions provided therein.