Rolling out new criminal laws, CAA among major tasks of MHA in 2024
New Delhi: Replacing the century-old criminal laws with a new set of legislations for introducing a modern and technology-driven criminal justice system, rolling out the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act and fire-fighting to check unabated violence in Manipur kept the Union home ministry busy in 2024.
Assisting the Election Commission in holding the Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir without major incidents and bringing down the violence in Naxal-affected states and northeastern region are the other key highlights of the country’s crucial ministry.
While the population enumeration exercise Census continues to be on hold for past four years as no decision has been taken by the ministry as to when it will be carried out, the ministry created five-year districts in Ladakh and renamed Port Blair in Andaman and Nicobar Islands as Sri Vijaya Puram during the year.
The three new criminal laws -- Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam -- replaced the colonial-era Indian Penal Code, the Code of Criminal Procedure and the Indian Evidence Act of 1872 respectively. The new laws came into effect from July 1.
Home Minister Amit Shah, who piloted the legislations, said the new laws would give priority to providing justice, unlike the colonial-era laws that gave primacy to penal action.
“These laws are made by Indians, for Indians and by an Indian Parliament and marks the end of colonial criminal justice laws,” he said.
The CAA, which was enacted in December 2019 for granting Indian nationality to persecuted Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist, Parsi and Christian migrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan who came to India on or before December 31, 2014, was rolled out in March and the first set of 14 people were granted Indian citizenship under the law in May. Intermittent violence continues to rock Manipur, where the first bout of ethnic clash between majority Meiteis and tribal Kukis was witnessed in May 2023. Even after the death of about 260 people, injury to hundreds and displacement of thousands of people, peace continues to be elusive in the northeastern state. Though there have been efforts from the central government to bring the warring communities to the negotiating table, sporadic violence continues there.
Members of the ruling BJP were also not spared. Mobs set fire to the residences of several BJP legislators, one of whom is a senior minister, and a Congress MLA in various districts of Imphal Valley in November besides making a foiled attempt to storm the ancestral house of Chief Minister N Biren Singh.
Seeing the fragile situation, the Centre in November reimposed the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act in Manipur’s six police station areas, including the violence-hit Jiribam.
Jammu and Kashmir witnessed a relatively peaceful assembly elections, which was held after a gap of 10 years. Violence perpetrated by Naxals also witnessed a decline. There has been 72 percent less violence by Maoists while the country has seen an 86 percent decline in deaths by Naxals in 2023 as compared to 2010.
