Hyderabad: Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president and ex-IT minister KT Rama Rao (KTR) on Monday demanded the Congress-run state government to clarify its stance on the new national criminal laws that have replaced the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), and Indian Evidence Act (IEA).
In an open letter, KTR said that the Congress came to power “promising democratic governance”, and said it should fulfill its promise by opposing these “dangerous laws” at the state level and take necessary actions to protect civil rights. KTR in his letter demanded the Telangana government to publicly declare its positions on the implementation of new criminal laws.
The new criminal laws, which have replaced the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), and Indian Evidence Act (IEA) with the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BSA), have been in effect nationwide since July 1.
After the laws came into existence, activists and others have argued that these favor the police and the government to suppress legitimate protests and agitations. KTR also said that Chief Ministers of West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka have already opposed these laws and added that the Telangana government must take a clear stance on it.
“He insists that the Telangana government must clarify whether it will implement these new criminal laws as is or introduce amendments, following the examples set by other states,” said a letter from KTR’s office. In his letter, he said that the new laws criminalise peaceful protests against government actions, extend police custody from 15 days to 90 days, give authority to the police to seize property without court permission, provide discretionary powers to investigative agencies for prosecuting organized crimes, among others.
KTR also said that though the Congress at the national level has expressed its opposition to these laws, the local Congress governments like in Telangana have not spoken a word on the issue. He insisted that Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy publicly declare his stance, similar to other state Chief Ministers, and take immediate action to address sections of these new laws.
