Introduction Of BNSS: A Step Forward Or Backward

The three new criminal laws introduced in the 'Amritkal' of Indian democracy have sparked both, a sense of apprehension as well as preparedness in the legal community. However certain provisions like the mandatory registration of Zero FIRs, extension of period of police custody and Preliminary Enquiry before registration of FIR's may at the implementation stage fall short of the desired goals with which they are introduced. The problem with the necessary registration of Zero FIR would be firstly, jurisdictional manipulation wherein the complainant might deliberately file FIRs in distant location to harass the accused and the issue with this would be that the Police station registering the FIR can make arrests on the basis of that FIR, potentially infringing the fundamental rights of the people. Secondly, the law is silent on the procedure to be followed after the registration of filing of the Zero FIR, specifically the time taken to transfer the case to the police station of appropriate jurisdiction. Therefore, the period of 14 days for conduction of preliminary enquiry before registration of FIRs as stated in Section 173 BNSS is in complete contradiction of the above judgement.