BJP’s legal goodies before 2024: Cure for netas’ ‘chest pain’ to deshdroh, love jihad to mob lynching

Laws can be powerful electoral currency. The Congress till date gets the whiplashes for wimping out to Islamists and overturning the Supreme Court’s Shah Bano judgment. Nor will it live down the disgrace of trying to bring the brazenly anti-Hindu Communal Violence Bill of 2011. The Mandal Commission report and its legal consequences altered Bharat’s politics in profound ways. The Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) Act, 1983, further fuelled the Assam agitation. But the ruling BJP led by PM Narendra Modi has embarked on a different journey. Masters at gauging the public mood, it has brought about ideologically aligned ‘positive laws’ as legal reforms. Take the repeal of Articles 370 and 35A from Jammu and Kashmir or banning instant triple talaq, for instance. It has been doing this with extraordinary boldness, certain about the electoral gains it would accrue. Which is why both the tone and the timing of the latest round of legal reforms are important. The official transformation of the British-era Indian Penal Code to Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) comes less than a hundred days before the announcement of general elections 2024. Many of the changes are aimed right at the heart of the Indian voter. Take for instance, the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) will limit adjournments and check delays. For the first time, investigation, submission of chargesheet, investigation and the pronouncement of judgment have been made time-bound by statute. In Lok Sabha, home minister Amit Shah made a blunt pitch to the poor after tabling the three bills: BNS, BNSS and the Bharatiya Sakshya Bill (BSB). Alluding to a Sunny Deol dialogue from the 1993 Bollywood movie Damini, he said this round of legal reforms will put an end to the ‘tareekh pe tareekh’ culture of endless and unnecessary adjournments. Time-bound disposal of cases will substantially tilt back towards the poor the legal system which is currently entirely skewed in favour of the rich and the powerful. It will have massive ramifications on the ground and silently show up electorally. The government has also addressed the other grouse of the common Bharatiya that VIPs unerringly complain of “chest pain” to get themselves admitted to a hospital to avoid time in custody. Now, accused in serious offences can be kept in custody for 90 days instead of 15 earlier. Days spent as ‘sick’ will be added to custody time. The new laws are merciless about mob lynching as well as love jihad, crimes cited by Muslims one one hand and Hindus and Christians on the other. Lynchings may now attract even the death penalty. Marriage or sexual intercourse after “suppressing identity” will attract punishment that go with rape charges. Rape and sexual harassment against women, whether at home or workplace, have been made much more wider and tighter. Women have been one of the chief votaries of the Modi government and BJP government in the states. Finally, the legal reforms have been done keeping the ruling party’s ideology and the growing new nationalism in mind. Terrorism has been brought under Section 113 of the BNS, apart from it being dealt with by the UAPA. Officers of the rank of SP and above will decide whether to slap UAPA or Section 113. Also, the colonial sedition law, which punished ‘rajdroh’ or actions against the government, has been replaced by tighter laws against ‘deshdroh’ or actions against the nation. This round of legal reforms are clear in its intent: decolonising, modernising and citizen-friendly. One cannot rule out a further couple of rounds of more audacious legal reforms before the Election Commission announces the poll dates. The author is contributing editor, Firstpost. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.