Criminal Law: Effective policing is necessary to become third largest economy: Home Minister Govind Mohan

For India to become the world's third largest economy, effective policing, effective public order and effective action against crime and criminals are necessary, said Indian Home Minister Govind Mohan on Wednesday. Delivering the Dr Anandswarup Gupta Memorial Lecture on the 54th foundation anniversary of the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D) as guest of honour, he said the organisation's role in modernising and upgrading the police force was of utmost importance.

The Home Minister said BPR&D is the only central police organisation linking all other police organisations and police forces of the states and union territories and acts as a think tank of the Indian Police to promote excellence in policing through research, modernisation, training and capacity building.

He praised BPR&D's training and advocacy efforts to implement the new criminal laws, which have resulted in the training of over 900,000 stakeholders across the criminal justice system.

Highlighting the key citizen-friendly provisions of the new laws, the Home Minister underlined that the current and relevant jurisprudence requires law enforcement agencies, in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Panch Pran, to break the shackles of colonialism and address the evolving nature of crime.

Three new penal laws – the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BSA) – came into force on July 1, bringing about far-reaching changes in India’s criminal justice system.

The new laws replaced the British-era Indian Penal Code, Criminal Procedure Code and Indian Evidence Act.

During the event, the Home Minister released a documentary film and a special issue of the Indian Police Journal, the flagship publication of BPR&D, both on new penal laws.

The Secretary of the Interior also honored the recipients of the President's Medal for Distinguished Service (PSM) and the President's Medal for Meritorious Service (MSM) for 2023 and 2024.

The programme was also attended by Director of Intelligence Tapan Kumar Deka, Deputy NSA Pankaj Kumar Singh, heads of Central Police Organisations (CPOs) and Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) and senior officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs and other departments.

BPR&D Director General Rajeev Kumar Sharma gave an overview of the organisation's activities and thanked Union Home Minister and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah in absentia for his continuous support and advice.