Date: August 18, 2023
Bharatiya Sakshya Bill, 2023
(Bill No. – 123 of 2023)
Author: Dr. Dimple Jindal
The Indian Government is going to replace the three major criminal laws of India which was in force from the last 163 years. The Indian Evidence Act, 1872 is one of them which was replaced by the Bharatiya Sakshya Bill, 2023.
The major controversy is the act of government which re-numbers the sections of these criminal laws and the lobby of legal professionals is jumbled with this act as it will be very difficult to erase the old memory and memorize the section numbers again.
In Indian Evidence Act, 1872, the provisions of Confession was placed under Section No.- 24 to 30. But now these provisions will find under Section 22, 23 and 24 of the B. S. B., 2023.
Section 24 of Indian Evidence Act, 1872 describes that in which cases the confession becomes irrelevant and Section 28 and 29 of the same Act describes where it is otherwise relevant. Now, the Section 24 of Indian Evidence Act, 1872 will be read as Section 22 of the B. S. B., 2023 (Bharatiya Sakshya Act after converted into Act), Section 28 of IE Act will find under the 1st proviso of Section 22 of the B. S. B., 2023 and Section 29 of the IE Act will find under the 2nd proviso of the Section 22 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Bill, 2023.
Section 25 of the IE Act, 1872 will be re-numbered as Section 23(1) of the B. S. B., 2023, Section 26 of the IE Act, 1872 will be renumbered as Section 23(2) of the B. S. B., 2023 and the most important Section no 27 which talks about how much information received from the accused amounts to discovery and may be admitted as evidence will be find under proviso of Section 23 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Bill, 2023.
Section 30 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 will be find under Section 24 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Bill, 2023 (Bharatiya Sakshya Act – if converted in to Act).