Law of IndiaModule 7
Criminal law and the administration of justice: the three new codes, offences and defences, investigation and arrest, trial, evidence, sentencing, appeals and cooperation
In 2023 Parliament replaced the three great colonial criminal statutes with **three new codes**, in force from **1 July 2024**: the **Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (BNS)**, which defines offences and defences and replaces the **Indian Penal Code of 1860**; the **Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS)**, which governs investigation, bail, trial and appeals and replaces the **Code of Criminal Procedure of 1973**; and the **Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 (BSA)**, the law of evidence, which replaces the **Indian Evidence Act of 1872**. Much of the old structure and many of the old decisions carry over, with new section numbers, some new offences and a new stress on electronic records and speed. Above everything stand the **constitutional guarantees** of Articles 20, 21 and 22 and a body of Supreme Court decisions on the rights of the accused. This module follows a case from the offence to the investigation, trial, sentence and appeal.
This course explains the law of India, not US law. Rules that look the same elsewhere may be different.
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