Supreme Court refuses to entertain plea seeking stay on operation of new criminal laws

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a plea seeking stay on the operation of the three new criminal laws that would come into effect from July 1 and replace the existing Indian Penal Code (IPC), Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and Indian Evidence Act.

President Droupadi Murmu gave her assent to bills on December 25 last year

The three new criminal laws — the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita and the Bharatiya Sakshya Act – were passed by the Lok Sabha on December 20 and by the Rajya Sabha on December 21 last year and President Droupadi Murmu gave her assent to the bills on December 25 last year.

A vacation bench comprising Justice Bela M Trivedi and Justice Pankaj Mithal said that these new laws have not come into force so far and showed its disinclination to entertain the plea filed by petitioner advocate Vishal Tiwari, who then urged the apex court bench to allow him to withdraw the plea.

The bench allowed petitioner Tiwari to withdraw his plea.

“The petition has been filed in a very casual and cavalier manner,” the top court bench observed and added, “If you had argued more, we would have dismissed it with cost but since you are not arguing, we are not imposing cost,” news agency PTI reported.

Petitioner sought a stay on operation on new criminal laws

Tiwari, challenging the enactment of the three laws, sought a stay on its operation and directions from the top court for constitution of an expert committee immediately to asses the viability of the three new criminal laws.

New criminal laws enacted without any parliamentary debate: Petitioner

Petitioner Tiwari claimed in his plea that these new criminal laws were enacted by the Centre without any parliamentary debate as most of the opposition members were under suspension.

Earlier, a bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud dismissed a similar petition on the ground of locus.