Both Houses of Parliament have approved the three revised criminal law bills, meaning that the Indian Penal Code will be replaced by the Bharatiya Nyaya (Second) Sanhita, the Code of Criminal Procedure will be superseded by the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha (Second) Sanhita, and the Indian Evidence Act will be supplanted by the Bharatiya Sakshya (Second) Sanhita.
The President of India will now need to give their final approval to the new bills before they are enforced as a law.
India Today examines some formerly popular areas in the public sphere that have since shifted into different categories.
Under the new bill, murder is now covered by Section 101 instead of Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code. Section 420 of the IPC, which dealt with cheating, has been replaced by Section 316. Additionally, Section 144 of the IPC, which related to illegal assembly, is now Section 187, and Section 121, which dealt with waging war, is now Section 146. Defamation, which was Section 499 under the IPC, is now Section 354 under the new law. Rape, which was Section 376 in the IPC, is now Section 63, and Section 70 relates to gangrape, while the punishment for rape is Section 64. Finally, sedition, which was Section 124-A of the IPC, is now known as Section 150.
