'Entire Tamil Nadu is on Strike': Madras HC Advocates Condemn Implementation of 3 New Criminal Laws

Chennai: As the government implemented the three new criminal laws, advocates of the Madras High Court condemned the action and are demanding the Centre to stop the implementation.

G Mohanakrishnan, President of the  Madras High Court Advocates Association said that today the association has convened a general body to condemn the implementation of new criminal acts. He further requested other state boards to protest against the implementation of these new acts.

"Entire Tamil Nadu is on strike. They are boycotting the court proceedings. Today, we have convened a general body to condemn the implementation of new criminal acts," Mohanakrishnan told ANI.

"We demand the central government to stop the implementation of new criminal acts. We are also requesting other state boards to protest against the implementation of these new acts," he added.

Three new criminal laws—Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam—came into effect across India on Monday, July 1 this week. This brought widespread changes in India's criminal justice system and ended colonial-era laws.

This comes as Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) will hold a hunger strike on Saturday, July 6, against the implementation of the new criminal laws. As per the report, the protest will be held near the Rajarathinam stadium in Egmore, party legal wing secretary NR Elango said in a statement on Friday.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who piloted these laws, said the new laws would give priority to providing justice, unlike the British-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.

According to the new laws, any judgment in criminal cases has to come within 45 days of the completion of trial and charges must be framed within a span of 60 days of the first hearing.