New regime for easy access to judiciary: Kishan

Hyderabad: Stating that the current effort to amend the three criminal laws (IPC, CrPC and Indian Evidence Act) and replace them with the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BSA) is only a small effort, Union minister G Kishan Reddy on Sunday called upon the people and the legal fraternity to wholeheartedly support the changes. The minister said the Union govt led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi intends to bring in sweeping changes in the judiciary to make it accessible to the common people.

Addressing a workshop for lawyers organised by the Hyderabad chapter of the Forum for Nationalist Thinkers at Keshav Memorial College, Kishan said the ways of the critics of BJP and Modi were strange because “they accept the same changes when brought by others but oppose them when brought by BJP”.“Let us not cling to the past. Be it British or Nizam,” he said, stressing the need to do away with the laws of the British era, which were made to enslave our people. Citing a land case in Hyderabad, Kishan said there was also a need to bring about change in the judiciary.The case went to the Supreme Court and a bench of the apex court ordered status quo, meaning that none of the competing parties should make any changes to the land. However, one party violated the order and constructed buildings on the land.The aggrieved party approached the Supreme Court again. The Supreme Court did not give any protection to the party and the illegal structures have been coming up on the land for the past three years. “Today, the common man cannot afford to go to the Supreme Court. A lawyer appears in a case and spends 15 minutes on each hearing. He collects a huge fee for each hearing, irrespective of whether the case reaches the stage of hearing or not,” said Kishan. “Tell us if there are any flaws in the changes. The Union government is ready to rectify them,” the Union minister urged the Bar and the Bench. Speaking on the occasion, former Chief Justice of Patna high court, Justice L Narasimha Reddy welcomed the new BNS, BNSS and BSA regime. “This new regime will discourage unnecessary adjournments and would pave the way for speedy trials and avoid unnecessary harassment of those facing trial. Because speedy disposal of criminal cases would save families from the trauma of running around criminal courts together for decades,” he said. Those who defraud women with the promise of marriage and later evade their victims will now find it difficult to escape the law as the new regime has a special provision to bring them under the purview of criminal law, Justice Narasimha said. BJP leader and former MLC N Ramchander Rao and several law officers attended the programme.