West Bengal Forms Seven-Member Panel To Review New Criminal Laws

Kolkata:

The West Bengal government has constituted a seven-member panel headed by a retired judge of the Calcutta High Court to review the three new criminal laws, an official said on Wednesday.

A notification in this regard was issued on Tuesday, he said. The panel will submit its report within three months from the date of notification.

“The state government is pleased hereby to constitute a committee for reviewing the said criminal laws, i.e. Bharatiya Nyaya Sanita, 2023 (BNS), the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS) and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 (BSA),” the Home Department release said.

Meanwhile, Governor C V Ananda Bose called upon Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee “to furnish an immediate report on the objectives of the committee to review the amended CRPC, IPC and the Evidence Act”, a statement released by his office said.

“West Bengal cannot be a state within a state or turned into a banana republic,” it said.

The state government panel headed by Justice (retired) Ashim Kumar Roy also includes the state’s Law Minister Malay Ghatak and Finance Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya, the official said.

The three laws came into force throughout the country from July 1.

“The committee shall have the power to engage academic experts, senior advocates, research assistants and other legal experts for seeking their views on the subject matter. It shall also have the power to carry out public consultation,” the notification said.

Banerjee had on June 21 written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to defer implementation of the new criminal laws.

She had also sought further discussion in Parliament on the new laws.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)