Government looking to amend CrPC, IPC: Attorney General

New Delhi: The attorney-general of India R. Venkataramani on Thursday told the Supreme Court that the Central government is actively considering amending the CrPC (Code of Criminal Procedure) and the IPC (Indian Penal Code). He said that comprehensive amendments to the criminal laws will be undertaken in the coming Monsoon Session of the Parliament.

The attorney-general also indicated that amendments to provisions relating to sedition are under consideration as well. The topmost law officer of the country said that he has personally asked the government to take an active role in bringing the amendments.

The Central government is actively considering amendments to criminal laws, the law officer said, adding, "Consultations have taken place... Some of this (the amendments) has to do with the sedition laws."

When the bench, comprising Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud and Justice J.B. Pardiwala, asked the top law officer about the relevance of the submission that a change in sedition law was also in the offing, he said the government was actively looking at amending the CrPC and the IPC.

The top court bench posted the matter for further hearing in the last week of July.

The A-G made the aforementioned submissions before the bench in response to a plea that challenged the provision of the CrPC that incapacitates female family members from accepting summons.

In November last year, the court issued notice to the attorney-general when a public interest litigation claimed that the present form of Section 64 in the CrPC discriminates against women and delays the delivery of justice, jeopardising the victim's right to a speedy trial guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution.

The plea alleged the provision discriminates between male and female and is violative of various fundamental rights, including the right to equality.

"Service when persons summoned cannot be found: Where the person summoned cannot, by the exercise of due diligence, be found, the summons may be served by leaving one of the duplicates for him with some adult male member of his family residing with him, and the person with whom the summons is so left shall, if so required by the serving officer, sign a receipt therefor on the back of the other duplicate," reads Section 64 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

Earlier, in March 2020, the Union home ministry constituted a national-level committee for reforms in criminal laws, headed by the vice-chancellor of the National Law University, Delhi, to undertake a review of the IPC, CrPC and the Evidence Act.