DMK moves Madras HC against new criminal laws, calls it ‘unconstitutional’

The Madras High Court on Friday, July 19, heard a plea from the DMK’s organising secretary and former Rajya Sabha MP RS Bharathi seeking to declare the newly implemented criminal laws – Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BSA), Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) as “unconstitutional”. The court has given the Union government 4 weeks notice to file its response. 

In his petitions, Bharathi told the court that all three new criminal laws had been “passed in undue haste and without due deliberation”. He also called them  “manifestly arbitrary and are ultra vires the Constitution of India” and further alleged that the Acts were a “concerted design to weaponize the law by criminalising democratic and peaceful acts of expressing dissent and opposition to state policies.”

The BSA replaced the Evidence Act, 1872 after it came into effect on July 1 alongside the BNS and the BNSS. The BNS and BNSS replaced the Indian Penal Code (IPC) of 1860 and the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) of 1973, respectively. 

Before their implementation, these Bills were passed in the Lok Sabha on December 21, 2023–just a day after 49 MPs had been suspended. These 49 MPs had added to the then shocking tally of 132 MPs who had already been suspended. Opposition leaders had at the time had accused the Union government of passing the Bills without sufficient debates. The MPs had been suspended citing “unruly behaviour” after they protested in the House against the December 13 Parliament security breach. Anger against the new laws have also been growing across the country since they came into effect.

Read: Karnataka opposes new criminal laws, says it threatens democratic protests, civil rights 

In his petitions, Bharathi accused the Union government of introducing and passing the Bills “without any meaningful discussion” while the Opposition had been boycotting Parliamentary proceedings in both Houses in protest against the security breach.

The petitions further says, “A bare perusal of the Acts reveals a concerted design to weaponize the law by criminalising democratic and peaceful acts of expressing dissent and opposition to state policies, systematically dismantle the most fundamental principles of criminal jurisprudence, such as the right to free and fair trial, and centralise powers of the police and provide impunity and ensure immunity of the police and state officials.” 

Bharathi also accuses the Union government of, contrary to federal rights, not giving state governments sufficient time to submit their views to the standing committee before the Bills were introduced in the Lok Sabha. 

The petitions also that the three laws are “overly oppressive, fanciful and manifestly arbitrary, and violates the substantive due process requirement of the Constitution. It fails to draw a balance between the object that is sought to be achieved by them and the fundamental rights of the citizens of India.”

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