India's ruling BJP touts replacement of colonial-era criminal laws with new legislation, while opposition and analysts says new laws lay "foundations of turning India into a police state."Activists protest against implementation of three new criminal laws and order to prosecute Indian author Arundhati Roy and Kashmiri professor Dr. Sheikh Showkat Hussain, under UAPA law, in Amritsar on July 1, 2024.
Under the new laws, the government is also empowered to hold"trials in absentia" for alleged offenders living outside India. The Bar Council of Delhi has also written a letter to Home Minister Amit Shah to delay the enforcement of three new criminal laws. "Their implementation must be stopped forthwith, and Parliament must re-examine them," he wrote on X."With this, our Republic has entered into a new system pivoted around modern technology and citizen-centric services. These laws place utmost primacy to the safety of women, children and the underprivileged," said Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma of northeastern Assam state, which is ruled by the far-right Bharatiya Janata Party .