BY - Priyanka Rai
For generations, ‘420’ meant cheating and often became a common taunt for people who failed to deliver on their promise.
The section in the Indian Penal Code (IPC) that inspired the title of the iconic Raj Kapoor movie Shree 420 is now listed as Section 316 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, which seeks to replace the 163-year-old law.
The changes are not limited to Section 420 but extend to Section 302 – murder– which will now be Section 101 of the proposed new law.
Similarly, Section 144 of the IPC dealing with illegal assembly is now proposed to be brought under Section 187.
The government will give reference to the relevant sections of the IPC for convenience.
Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita will have 356 sections, instead of the 511 the IPC had, with 175 of them amended.
8 new sections have been added and 22 have been repealed, the government said.
One of the highlights is the use of illustrations. Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita gives examples to help explain how the provisions related to offences such as defamation or trespass are meant to be used.
The government used a similar strategy in the just-passed Digital Personal Data Protection Bill.
The idea is to make life simpler for citizens through the use of technology – be it filing of electronic FIRs or zero FIRs, outside the jurisdiction of the police station where the offence has been committed, but within the state.