The Committee constituted by the Union Home Ministry under the chairmanship of the Vice-Chancellor of the National Law University Delhi (NLUD) on reforms in criminal laws has completed the first phase of the questionnaire-based Consultative exercise with respect to Substantive Criminal Law.
The Committee, in a statement, says that the second phase of the Consultations with regards to Procedural Criminal Law is currently underway and the Questionnaire-based Consultation on the Law of Evidence shall follow soon thereafter from August 29.
The Committee has, therefore, urged all stakeholders, functionaries and professionals to participate in the Consultations. It adds it is also open to receiving responses to the questionnaires for previous Consultations in word/pdf format at [email protected] or at [email protected] till the final date of completion of its Questionnaire-based Consultation i.e. October 9, 2020.
Last month several members of the legal fraternity had written a letter to the Chairperson and Members to the Committee highlighting lack of transparency in its functioning and the lack of diversity in its composition.
The signatories included former Supreme Court judges Justices Aftab Alam, Justice Madan B Lokur and Justice Gopala Gowda. Its eminent list included names of prominent Senior Advocates Navroz Seervai, CU Singh, Indira Jaising, Raju Ramachandran, Huzefa Ahmadi, Anand Grover, Meenakshi Arora, Rebecca John, Sanjay R. Hegde, Mihir Desai, Siddhartha Dave R Vaigai etc.
Facing criticism from various quarters over lack of diversity and representation, Prof Ranbir Singh, the chairperson of the Committee, had also issued a statement asserting that the structural part of it e.g. composition – lay with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) but for its functional part it was completely autonomous and willing to respect suggestions.
Prof. (Dr.) Ranbir Singh who is also the Vice Chancellor of NLU D stated that the committee’s approach was guided by progressive and humane thinking in the realm of criminal law. He added that the committee was also alive to the most relevant debates, which were in the public domain and have a definite bearing on the need for just reforms in the criminal laws of this country.
MHA had constituted the National Level Committee for Reforms in Criminal Laws with the mandate to “recommend reforms in a principled, effective, and efficient manner which ensures the safety and security of the individual, the community and the nation; and which prioritises the constitutional values of justice, dignity and the inherent worth of the individual.”
The Committee, by Public Notice, on June 26 and July 11 had notified the mechanism and schedule for the Questionnaire-based Consultations as well as Open Consultations respectively.
Complete questionnaires for both substantive and procedural criminal laws may be accessed at the following links, respectively:
