Be passionate about the new criminal laws: Dhankhar to Judicial officers in Jodhpur

Jodhpur, Aug 9 (PTI) Vice president Jagdeep Dhankhar on Friday asked judicial officers to be passionate about the three recently implemented criminal laws, which he termed as revolutionary.

The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BSA) replaced the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), and Indian Evidence Act on July 1.

"These laws have been gifted to us to unshackle us from colonial legacy, to get rid of that mindset. These laws are not just for subjects, the laws are not from any sovereign power outside. The laws are by us, for us and are to be translated into reality by us," he said.

"Be in mission mode, be passionate about it, people need it. Revolutionary changes have come. Your preparations and involvement in gripping these laws will determine the success of this revolutionary step," the VP said addressing a conference in Jodhpur on Friday evening.

He also highlighted the new laws as not punitive, but justice-oriented "Transition from 'Dand Vidhan' to 'Nyay Vidhan' is not a slogan," he said.

He said that when the debate on the new laws was taking place, "legal luminary" members of Rajya Sabha P Chidambaram, Kapil Sibal, KTS Tulsi, Abhishek Singhvi, and Vivek Tankha "contributed by silence." Dhankhar said that he was "shocked" when "Chidambaram, a former home minister and an alumnus of Harvard university, gave a statement outside the house" objecting to the laws.

"People love democracy because they take liberty as their lifeline," he said, while talking about the abrogation of Article 370, which once granted a special status of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. PTI SDA VN VN