Needed: A slowdown
Marital rape, for example, remains legal under their proposals. While sedition has had hair split over its definition—against the state qualifies, not government—it sees no reduction in the law’s scope for misuse.
A plethora of new provisions needs scrutiny for how the applicatory axe may fall on violators. Deceitful marriage, for example, would test new grey zones of offence.
Verbal crimes, especially, could pose challenges in justice delivery. Speeding it up is a valid goal, no doubt, but the settings of a system aimed at reformation rather than retribution must minimize space for false convictions, not just faulty let-offs.
A close point-by-point review by our lawmakers of these new proposals is needed. The basic frame being replaced was put in place over a century ago.
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