West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday urged Union Home Minister Amit Shah to build consensus on new criminal-penal laws among stakeholders, rather than rushing them.
In a letter to Shah, Banerjee also claimed that overhauling the existing criminal-penal laws will have far-reaching implications on polity.
The Centre has brought three bills seeking to replace the Indian Penal Code (IPC), The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 and the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 with Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, respectively.
"I strongly believe that these are very significant legislations that form the bedrock of our penal-criminal jurisprudence. As such, the proposed overhauling of the existing criminal-penal statutes and replacing them with new statutes is bound to have far-reaching long-term implications on our polity," Banerjee said in the letter to Shah.
The suggested changes will also affect the public life of India in multiple ways, she asserted.
"I do hope that keeping the sensitivity of the subject in mind, you will kindly attempt to arrive at a consensus-building amongst all stakeholders on the proposed bills, rather than rushing to pass them in their present form, which has potential implications of serious nature in future," Banerjee said.
-With PTI Input
