India overhauls criminal code, alarming rights campaigners

NEW DELHI: India’s parliament on Thursday rushed through the country’s biggest criminal justice overhaul since the British colonial era, alarming rights campaigners who say the new laws give authorities too much power.

Sweeping changes to the colonial-era Penal Code and two other laws remove archaic references to the British monarchy, redefine the scope of “terrorism” offences, and introduce new punishments for mob lynchings and crimes against women.

Home Minister Amit Shah said when unveiling the three proposed laws in August that the old statutes had been designed to “strengthen colonial rule” and had outlived their purpose. “The motive of the three bills is not to give punishment but to give justice,” he told lawmakers on Thursday.