The Union Minister Amit Shah has asked the centre to bring about some radical changes in the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) and the Indian Evidence Act to make them relevant and applicable to present times. On Monday, during his speech at the National Forensic Science University (NFSU) in Gandhinagar, Amit Shah said “the days of third-degree torture are over”, the police should stay a step ahead of crime and criminal-minded people through better investigation and proposed that forensic investigation be made compulsory for any crime that entails a punishment of six or more years.
He also mentioned his recent conversation with an IPS trainee where he speaks about the two kinds of accusations cops have to face of no action and extreme action — Shah said just, and natural action is “possible only when we make scientific evidence a major base of our investigation”.
Talks on reforming India’s police system were going on for many years, but Amit Shah has taken up the responsibility of finally implementing it. Now the Ministry of Home Affairs will work on ensuring that the provision of the use of third-degree is repealed and provision for forensic examination in all cases involving punishment of more than 6 years be made mandatory. Many times, people are implicated due to misuse of law, while a forensic investigation is not even done in the case. He stressed on the need for a robust forensic setup that would make it impossible for criminals to escape the clutches of law.
There are many challenges ahead of India in the 21st century and to overcome them, systematising the criminal justice system becomes important along with the Modi government’s new Ministry of Cooperation which would provide a separate administrative legal and policy framework for strengthening the country, a Co-operative based economic development model is very relevant where each member works with a spirit of responsibility.
In 2019, Mr Shah mentioned that in the British era, the police were raised to protect their interests, but now the duty of the police was “protection of the people.” Since Independence, more than 34,000 policemen had lost their lives in the line of duty which is a huge loss for the country and to overcome this, radical change in improving the Police system is important.
The police system should be made modern as per the needs of the times and outdated elements should be removed in order to meet today’s challenges by adding new sections. Revolutionizing the police sector is long due but finally, the Modi government has taken steps to implement it.