Criminal Laws and Women

A woman in a Mumbai local train is followed day after day by the same man, who keeps messaging her after she has said no. Can she go to the police, and who will take her complaint? What if the matter is more serious, and what must the court do to protect her dignity during the trial? Three codes answer these questions: a penal code that defines the offences, a procedure code that tells police and courts how to act, and an evidence law that decides what can be proved. Since 1 July 2024, all three have new names.

In two minutes

The syllabus names the Indian Penal Code, CrPC and Evidence Act, but for offences on or after 1 July 2024 the operative law is the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023 (BNS), the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 2023 (BNSS) and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam 2023 (BSA), which together define, investigate and prove offences against women.

The rest of this chapter

The full explanation, the cheat sheet, every previous-year question at every mark weight, the quiz and the answer skeletons are part of Law Relating to Women and Children on LexBlox Semester. Sign in to unlock the subject, or read Module 1 of Legal Language and Writing free.