IPC Section 420
For many years, the term “420” was used to denote cheating and was frequently used as an insult against those who broke their word. The part of the 163-year-old Indian Penal Code (IPC) that served as the basis for the title of the enduring Raj Kapoor film Shree 420 is currently referred to as Part 316 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.
The amendments go beyond Section 420 and include Section 302 (murder), which will become Section 101 of the new law that is being presented.
Similarly, it is now planned to include Section 144 of the IPC, which deals with illegal assembly, under Section 187.
IPC Section 420: Cheating
The government will provide a convenient reference to the pertinent portions of the IPC at the time the Rules are released. The penal code has grown more complicated over time as additional sections and subsections have been added. The revised version aims to modernize and clarify the law.
“Serious events, including the Nirbhaya rape case and court rulings, have occasionally resulted in changes to the three main criminal laws.” However, the adjustments were patchwork in nature, according to a government source.
Instead of the 511 sections the IPC had, the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita will contain 356 sections, 175 of which have been changed. According to the administration, 22 provisions have been abolished and eight new sections have been created. The Indian Evidence Act and Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita, which will replace the nearly 40-year-old Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and the Indian Evidence Act, respectively, will have more sections and have been updated to be more current, including the removal of several words from the latter’s colonial era.
The use of illustrations is one of the highlights. Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita provides illustrations to help clarify how the regulations relating to offenses like trespass or defamation are intended to be used.
The government used a similar strategy in the just-passed Digital Personal Data Protection Bill. In addition, crimes have been combined and rearranged, and some, including crimes against women and children, have received special attention, with the use of technology serving as the second major topic.
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The goal is to leverage technology to make life easier for citizens, whether that means filing electronic FIRs or zero FIRs outside the purview of the police station where the incident was committed but still within the state.
