Greeva Garg–
A plea has been filed in the Supreme Court of India seeking to draft a new stringent and comprehensive Penal Code regulating crimes in the country.
The petition sought for the replacement of the old colonial Indian Penal Code of 1860, considering it as outdated and inflexible according to the present needs of law.
“Rule of Law and Right to Life, Liberty & Dignity can’t be secured without implementing a stringent and comprehensive ‘One Nation One Penal Code’, having specific chapters on bribery, money laundering, black money, profiteering, adulteration, hoarding, black marketing, drug smuggling, gold smuggling and human trafficking,” the plea states at the outset.
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The PIL was filed by a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, Ashwini Upadhyay through Advocate Ashwini Dubey in the Supreme Court.
“Direct the Centre to constitute an expert committee to examine all domestic and internal laws relating to corruption-crime, and draft a comprehensive and stringent ‘one nation one penal code’ to secure the Rule of Law, Equality before laws and equal protection of laws,” the PIL stated.
The petitioner sought directions of the Supreme Court to Judicial Commission to examine the domestic-international laws and the Law Commission to examine the internal laws, necessary for drafting of the new Code.
The petitioner asserts that “The restructuring of IPC is desirable as many of its provisions have become obsolete with changing socio-economic developments and technological advances. Crimes like mob lynching, financial crimes, white-collar crimes, economic crimes have not found proper recognition in IPC 1860. There is uneven punishment for crimes of grievous hurt.”
The petitioner requested the Court to pass the appropriate orders in the matter as the subject concerns serious actions in its regard.