India Tomorrow
NEW DELHI—Stating that “India will no longer be a functional democracy” if the three new criminal laws passed by Parliament in 2023 and given assent by the President of India come in force on July 1, over 100 ex-bureaucrats forming part of the Constitutional Conduct Group (CCG) have appealed to the President of India, Prime Minister of India and others to go for an urgent review of these laws.
The three criminal laws over which the CCG has expressed its deep concern are: the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023 (BNS), the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 2023 (BNSS), and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 (BSA). Click here to read the three new criminal laws.
In an open letter to President of India, Prime Minister of India, Union Home Minister, President of all political parties, members of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, CCG has requested to conduct a detailed debate on it before their implementation because these laws were passed by the Parliament without much debate.
They have said that the new laws will “criminalise legitimate, non-violent dissent against the governments and the forces that back them.” In short, the laws will immobilise democracy.
Another concern raised by the CCG is that the news laws will “terrorise civilians and honest public servants” because the new laws give “unguided, arbitrary and virtually unlimited power to selectively arrest, detain, prosecute and convict practically anyone they choose, including by branding them as terrorists and as anti-nationals”.
The third concern raised by them is that the new laws “regularise extraordinary powers which should normally be available only in legitimate states of emergency as already provided in the Constitutions”.
The letter says that “the three laws are only second to the Constitution of India in their importance in the daily lives of the common people in the country, especially the most vulnerable and marginalised sections”.
Here is the text of the letter and the names of the signatories:
CCG Open Letter:
Review of new criminal laws needed
21 June 2024
To
Hon’ble President of India
Hon’ble Prime Minister of India
Hon’ble Home Minister of India
Presidents of National Parties
Presidents of State Parties
Members of Parliament (Lok Sabha/Rajya Sabha)
Dear Madam/Sir,
1. Our group, the Constitutional Conduct Group, comprises former civil servants who have served in the All India and Central Services in various capacities. We have no affiliation with any political party but are strongly committed to the ideals enshrined in the Constitution of India.
2. On 25th December 2023, the President of India gave assent to the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023 (BNS), the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 2023 (BNSS), and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 (BSA). As notified by the Government of India, these new criminal laws are to take effect in a few days, on 1st July 2024.
3. These three criminal laws are second only to the Constitution of India in their importance in the daily lives of common people in the country, especially the most vulnerable and marginalised sections. Yet these three new complex criminal laws, which replace the entire legal edifice of criminal justice, were rushed through parliamentary approval without having to face critical questioning by the opposition in a public debate. As a result, a number of valid and important questions about the laws remain unanswered.
4. Wide concern has been expressed in great detail in public discourse over the last ten months since the drafts of these new laws were first introduced in August, 2023. However, the core issues raised have not been addressed by the Union Government. These fall into three broad areas. First, the concern is that the new laws enable governments of the day (whether at the Union or State levels) to immobilize the practice of democracy by over-broad criminalization of legitimate, non-violent dissent and opposition against the Governments, the ruling parties and the forces that back them. The second concern is that the new laws will terrorize innocent civilians and honest public servants because they put in the hands of the Government of the day unguided, arbitrary and virtually unlimited power to selectively arrest, detain, prosecute and convict practically anyone they choose, including by branding them as terrorists and as anti-national. Third, the concern is that the new laws in effect regularise extraordinary powers which should normally be available only in legitimate states of emergency as already provided in the Constitution . The effect of these laws, as currently approved, is that, once they come into effect, India will no longer be a functioning democracy.
5. Suffice it to say that the new laws are vulnerable to rampant political abuse, especially in today’s vitiated political atmosphere and the intolerance of Governments, both at the Centre and in the States, to dissent in any form and from any source. To ensure that the democratic ethos of our Republic is protected in letter and in spirit, we are of the view that it is incumbent on the Government of India to (i) defer the date (1st July 2024) on which the three laws are to come into force and (ii) urgently call an all-party meeting to develop a national consensus on how to take these three new laws forward so as to completely remove all public concerns about the possible negative impact of these three new laws on constitutional rights and civil liberties.
6. We urge the highest political executive of the Government of India, the members of both Houses of Parliament and leaders of political parties to ensure that these new laws do not hollow out our constitutional rights and jeopardise our democracy. We, therefore, appeal to all of you to take urgent steps to ensure that the enforcement of the new criminal statutes is deferred and the new criminal laws are reviewed at an all-party meeting to develop a national consensus.
SATYAMEVA JAYATE
Yours faithfully,
Constitutional Conduct Group (109 signatories, as below)
| 1. | Anita Agnihotri | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Department of Social Justice Empowerment, GoI |
| 2. | Anand Arni | RAS (Retd.) | Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI |
| 3. | Aruna Bagchee | IAS (Retd.) | Former Joint Secretary, Ministry of Mines, GoI |
| 4. | Sandeep Bagchee | IAS (Retd.) | Former Principal Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra |
| 5. | G. Balachandhran | IAS (Retd.) | Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal |
| 6. | Vappala Balachandran | IPS (Retd.) | Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI |
| 7. | Gopalan Balagopal | IAS (Retd.) | Former Special Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal |
| 8. | Chandrashekar Balakrishnan | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Coal, GoI |
| 9. | Sushant Baliga | Engineering Services (Retd.) | Former Additional Director General, Central PWD, GoI |
| 10. | Rana Banerji | RAS (Retd.) | Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI |
| 11. | Sharad Behar | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh |
| 12. | Aurobindo Behera | IAS (Retd.) | Former Member, Board of Revenue, Govt. of Odisha |
| 13. | Madhu Bhaduri | IFS (Retd.) | Former Ambassador to Portugal |
| 14. | K.V. Bhagirath | IFS (Retd.) | Former Secretary General, Indian Ocean Rim Association, Mauritius |
| 15. | Pradip Bhattacharya | IAS (Retd.) | Former Additional Chief Secretary, Development & Planning and Administrative Training Institute, Govt. of West Bengal |
| 16. | Nutan Guha Biswas | IAS (Retd.) | Former Member, Police Complaints Authority, Govt. of NCT of Delhi |
| 17. | Meeran C Borwankar | IPS (Retd.) | Former DGP, Bureau of Police Research and Development, GoI |
| 18. | Ravi Budhiraja | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chairman, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, GoI |
| 19. | Sundar Burra | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra |
| 20. | R. Chandramohan | IAS (Retd.) | Former Principal Secretary, Transport and Urban Development, Govt. of NCT of Delhi |
| 21. | Rachel Chatterjee | IAS (Retd.) | Former Special Chief Secretary, Agriculture, Govt. of Andhra Pradesh |
| 22. | Kalyani Chaudhuri | IAS (Retd.) | Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal |
| 23. | Purnima Chauhan | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Administrative Reforms, Youth Services & Sports and Fisheries, Govt. of Himachal Pradesh |
| 24. | Gurjit Singh Cheema | IAS (Retd.) | Former Financial Commissioner (Revenue), Govt. of Punjab |
| 25. | F.T.R. Colaso | IPS (Retd.) | Former Director General of Police, Govt. of Karnataka & former Director General of Police, Govt. of Jammu & Kashmir |
| 26. | Anna Dani | IAS (Retd.) | Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra |
| 27. | Vibha Puri Das | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Ministry of Tribal Affairs, GoI |
| 28. | P.R. Dasgupta | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chairman, Food Corporation of India, GoI |
| 29. | Pradeep K. Deb | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Deptt. Of Sports, GoI |
| 30. | Nitin Desai | Former Chief Economic Adviser, Ministry of Finance, GoI | |
| 31. | M.G. Devasahayam | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Govt. of Haryana |
| 32. | Kiran Dhingra | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Ministry of Textiles, GoI |
| 33. | Sushil Dubey | IFS (Retd.) | Former Ambassador to Sweden |
| 34. | A.S. Dulat | IPS (Retd.) | Former OSD on Kashmir, Prime Minister’s Office, GoI |
| 35. | Suresh K. Goel | IFS (Retd.) | Former Director General, Indian Council of Cultural Relations, GoI |
| 36. | S.K. Guha | IAS (Retd.) | Former Joint Secretary, Department of Women & Child Development, GoI |
| 37. | H.S. Gujral | IFoS (Retd.) | Former Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Govt. of Punjab |
| 38. | Meena Gupta | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Ministry of Environment & Forests, GoI |
| 39. | Ravi Vira Gupta | IAS (Retd.) | Former Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India |
| 40. | Wajahat Habibullah | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, GoI and former Chief Information Commissioner |
| 41. | Deepa Hari | IRS (Resigned) | |
| 42. | Vivek Harinarain | IAS (Retd.) | Govt. of Tamil Nadu |
| 43. | Sajjad Hassan | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Govt. of Manipur |
| 44. | Siraj Hussain | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Department of Agriculture, GoI |
| 45. | Kamal Jaswal | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Department of Information Technology, GoI |
| 46. | Naini Jeyaseelan | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Inter-State Council, GoI |
| 47. | Najeeb Jung | IAS (Retd.) | Former Lieutenant Governor, Delhi |
| 48. | Sanjay Kaul | IAS (Retd.) | Former Principal Secretary, Govt. of Karnataka |
| 49. | Vinod C. Khanna | IFS (Retd.) | Former Additional Secretary, MEA, GoI |
| 50. | Gita Kripalani | IRS (Retd.) | Former Member, Settlement Commission, GoI |
| 51. | Ish Kumar | IPS (Retd.) | Former DGP (Vigilance & Enforcement), Govt. of Telangana and former Special Rapporteur, National Human Rights Commission |
| 52. | Sudhir Kumar | IAS (Retd.) | Former Member, Central Administrative Tribunal |
| 53. | Harsh Mander | IAS (Retd.) | Govt. of Madhya Pradesh |
| 54. | Amitabh Mathur | IPS (Retd.) | Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI |
| 55. | Lalit Mathur | IAS (Retd.) | Former Director General, National Institute of Rural Development, GoI |
| 56. | Aditi Mehta | IAS (Retd.) | Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Rajasthan |
| 57. | Sonalini Mirchandani | IFS (Resigned) | GoI |
| 58. | Malay Mishra | IFS (Retd.) | Former Ambassador to Hungary |
| 59. | Satya Narayan Mohanty | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary General, National Human Rights Commission |
| 60. | Sudhansu Mohanty | IDAS (Retd.) | Former Financial Adviser (Defence Services), Ministry of Defence, GoI |
| 61. | Anup Mukerji | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Bihar |
| 62. | Deb Mukharji | IFS (Retd.) | Former High Commissioner to Bangladesh and former Ambassador to Nepal |
| 63. | Shiv Shankar Mukherjee | IFS (Retd.) | Former High Commissioner to the United Kingdom |
| 64. | Gautam Mukhopadhaya | IFS (Retd.) | Former Ambassador to Myanmar |
| 65. | B.M. Nanta | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Govt. of Himachal Pradesh |
| 66. | Ramesh Narayanaswami | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of NCT of Delhi |
| 67. | Surendra Nath | IAS (Retd.) | Former Member, Finance Commission, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh |
| 68. | P. Joy Oommen | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Chhattisgarh |
| 69. | Amitabha Pande | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Inter-State Council, GoI |
| 70. | Maxwell Pereira | IPS (Retd.) | Former Joint Commissioner of Police, Delhi |
| 71. | Alok Perti | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Ministry of Coal, GoI |
| 72. | R. Poornalingam | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Ministry of Textiles, GoI |
| 73. | Rajesh Prasad | IFS (Retd.) | Former Ambassador to the Netherlands |
| 74. | R.M. Premkumar | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra |
| 75. | Rajdeep Puri | IRS (Resigned) | Former Joint Commissioner of Income Tax, GoI |
| 76. | N.K. Raghupathy | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chairman, Staff Selection Commission, GoI |
| 77. | V.P. Raja | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chairman, Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission |
| 78. | V. Ramani | IAS (Retd.) | Former Director General, YASHADA, Govt. of Maharashtra |
| 79. | M. Rameshkumar | IAS (Retd.) | Former Member, Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal |
| 80. | K. Sujatha Rao | IAS (Retd.) | Former Health Secretary, GoI |
| 81. | M.Y. Rao | IAS (Retd.) | |
| 82. | Vijaya Latha Reddy | IFS (Retd.) | Former Deputy National Security Adviser, GoI |
| 83. | Julio Ribeiro | IPS (Retd.) | Former Director General of Police, Govt. of Punjab |
| 84. | Manabendra N. Roy | IAS (Retd.) | Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal |
| 85. | Aruna Roy | IAS (Resigned) | |
| 86. | Deepak Sanan | IAS (Retd.) | Former Principal Adviser (AR) to Chief Minister, Govt. of Himachal Pradesh |
| 87. | S. Satyabhama | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chairperson, National Seeds Corporation, GoI |
| 88. | N.C. Saxena | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Planning Commission, GoI |
| 89. | Ardhendu Sen | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal |
| 90. | Abhijit Sengupta | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Ministry of Culture, GoI |
| 91. | Aftab Seth | IFS (Retd.) | Former Ambassador to Japan |
| 92. | Ashok Kumar Sharma | IFoS (Retd.) | Former MD, State Forest Development Corporation, Govt. of Gujarat |
| 93. | Ashok Kumar Sharma | IFS (Retd.) | Former Ambassador to Finland and Estonia |
| 94. | Navrekha Sharma | IFS (Retd.) | Former Ambassador to Indonesia |
| 95. | Pravesh Sharma | IAS (Retd.) | Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh |
| 96. | Raju Sharma | IAS (Retd.) | Former Member, Board of Revenue, Govt. of Uttar Pradesh |
| 97. | Rashmi Shukla Sharma | IAS (Retd.) | Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh |
| 98. | Avay Shukla | IAS (Retd.) | Former Additional Chief Secretary (Forests & Technical Education), Govt. of Himachal Pradesh |
| 99. | Mukteshwar Singh | IAS (Retd.) | Former Member, Madhya Pradesh Public Service Commission |
| 100. | Satyavir Singh | IRS (Retd.) | Former Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, GoI |
| 101. | Sujatha Singh | IFS (Retd.) | Former Foreign Secretary, GoI |
| 102. | Tara Ajai Singh | IAS (Retd.) | Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Karnataka |
| 103. | Tirlochan Singh | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, National Commission for Minorities, GoI |
| 104. | Prakriti Srivastava | IFoS (Retd.) | Former Principal Chief Conservator of Forests & Special Officer, Rebuild Kerala Development Programme, Govt. of Kerala |
| 105. | Anup Thakur | IAS (Retd.) | Former Member, National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission |
| 106. | P.S.S. Thomas | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary General, National Human Rights Commission |
| 107. | Geetha Thoopal | IRAS (Retd.) | Former General Manager, Metro Railway, Kolkata |
| 108. | Ashok Vajpeyi | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chairman, Lalit Kala Akademi |
| 109. | Rudi Warjri | IFS (Retd.) | Former Ambassador to Colombia, Ecuador and Costa Rica |
