Criminal justice system’s digital push aims for a full roll-out by next year, Pg12

Key Highlights:

• Procedures for all investigations and trials under India's new criminal laws will be digitally recorded starting January 1, 2027.
• The nationwide rollout of the Interoperable Criminal Justice System (ICJS), which integrates police, courts, prisons, forensics, and prosecution, is expected to be completed soon.
• The three new criminal laws, Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), Bharatiya Sakshya Sanhita (BSS), and Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), replaced the colonial-era criminal codes on July 1, 2024.
• Forensic examination is now mandatory for cases punishable by seven years or more, leading to the addition of 25 new forensic laboratories and over 700 mobile forensic units.
• All digital data generated by the system will be stored on the government-owned cloud platform MeghRaj.

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Detailed Insights:

• The ICJS aims to achieve an end-to-end digital workflow, ensuring that data is entered once and accessible across all five pillars of the criminal justice system.
• The BNS replaced the Indian Penal Code (1860), the BSS replaced the Indian Evidence Act (1872), and the BNSS replaced the Code of Criminal Procedure (1898).
• States and Union Territories have been given five years to implement the necessary infrastructure and forensic capabilities required by the new laws.
• The BNSS provides statutory backing to Zero-FIRs, allowing them to be filed irrespective of jurisdiction, a provision that existed earlier but now has legal force.
• The Crime and Criminal Tracking and Network Systems (CCTNS) platform, used by over 16,000 police stations, facilitates FIR registration and has been upgraded to support the new criminal laws.
• The national implementation score for the new laws increased from 46.47% in January 2025 to 70.06% by June 2026.
• Challenges to full implementation include improving internet connectivity, standardizing processes across states, ensuring full interoperability, and training personnel.

Key Concepts Involved:

• Interoperable Criminal Justice System (ICJS): A national platform integrating police, courts, prisons, forensics, and prosecution for seamless data exchange and efficient justice delivery.
• Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS): The new substantive criminal law that replaced the Indian Penal Code (1860), defining offenses and punishments.
• Bharatiya Sakshya Sanhita (BSS): The new law governing the admissibility of evidence in Indian courts, replacing the Indian Evidence Act (1872).
• Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS): The new procedural law that replaced the Code of Criminal Procedure (1898), outlining procedures for arrest, investigation, and trial.
• Zero-FIR: An FIR that can be registered at any police station, regardless of the territorial jurisdiction where the crime occurred, and then transferred to the appropriate station.
• MeghRaj: The Government of India's cloud computing initiative, providing secure and scalable cloud services for government departments and e-governance applications.
• Crime and Criminal Tracking and Network Systems (CCTNS): A project to create a comprehensive national database of crimes and criminals, linking police stations across the country.