New Delhi: Within days of allegedly sexually assaulting a two-year-old girl in Outer Delhi’s Bawana in June last year, the accused was arrested. Ten days later, the Delhi Police had completed its investigation and filed a chargesheet. Less than a month after the crime, charges had been framed by the trial court, and nine months later, the accused was convicted and sentenced to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment.
Government officials have cited the case as an example of how India’s new criminal laws have accelerated investigations and trials through stricter timelines and greater reliance on forensic and scientific evidence.
The case is among several that the government says demonstrate the impact of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, and the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023, and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BSA), which complete two years since their implementation on 1 July 2024.
According to data accessed by ThePrint, compliance with statutory timelines has improved since the new laws came into force.
Data shows that FIR registrations have increased from 17.90 lakh in 2024 to a cumulative 74.41 lakh between 1 July 2024 and 26 June 2026, while chargesheets filed have risen by 275%, from 15.92 lakh to 59.71 lakh during the same period.
The 60-day chargesheet compliance rate has increased from 50.92 percent in 2024 to 67.26 percent in 2026. Similarly, 90-day compliance has risen from 39.56 percent to 60.95 percent. Compliance with investigation timelines in sexual offence cases has also improved from 65 percent to 76.29 percent, according to the data.
Senior government officials told ThePrint that although implementation is still underway, the laws have already resulted in “systemic changes” by mandating prompt police action, scientific evidence-based investigations and prescribed timelines for every stage of investigation and prosecution.
“After the new laws were implemented, the investigation time of cases has come down by 25 percent. 90 percent of states are filing chargesheets within stipulated time. Getting FIRs registered by a complainant has become very easy because of zero FIRs. The system supports FIRs in 23 languages, so jurisdiction or language is no longer a hurdle,” an officer explained.
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Digital policing and forensic push
Officials also attributed the increase in Zero FIR registrations to the legal recognition accorded under the new laws.
According to government data, Zero FIR registrations have increased from 12,821 in 2024 to a cumulative 63,572 by June 2026. The forensic infrastructure has also expanded, with the number of mobile forensic vans increasing from 50 in 2024 to 700 now.
Officials said integration of the Interoperable Criminal Justice System (ICJS) and the Case Information System (CIS) is in advanced stages. As of May 2026, around 36.68 crore police records—including 9.90 crore FIRs and 7.64 crore chargesheets—had been uploaded to the national database. Investigators from across states, Union Territories and central agencies have conducted approximately 117.03 crore searches on the platform.
“Moreover, forensic and scientific probes have strengthened, making sure that the investigation is fool proof and achieves conviction. Within this limited time of two years, a lot has been achieved,” the officer said.
“There are more than 250 cases that have reached from the FIR to the trial and decision stage in record time,” the officer added.
The officer said the next phase would integrating courts into the digital ecosystem. Once a chargesheet is filed electronically, it will move directly to the court, eliminating physical transmission. Investigating officers will also be able to upload videos from crime scenes and other evidence that judges can access digitally.
“It will be one data, once entry. All this data will be securely uploaded to a cloud accessible to law-enforcement agencies and courts,” the officer said.
Goa, Assam, Punjab among top performers
A second government officer said Haryana, Goa, Assam, Chandigarh and Punjab have emerged as the best-performing states and Union Territories in implementing the new framework.
“We rank the states based on administrative reforms, operational efficiency, integration, and ICT application and based on that these five states and UTs have done the best work,” the officer said.
The officer said other states are also making progress despite differences in resources and connectivity.
“All states are doing their best. While some are struggling and we are helping them in all our capacity because the ultimate goal is seamless implementation and we are looking at the timeline where it will be done by the end of this year in December,” the official said. “Some states have to understand the need for inter-state coordination. There are hurdles, but all that can be overcome for the larger national interest,” the officer said.
The officer added that 621 police stations had been added to the CCTNS (Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems) network over the past year, taking coverage to 100 percent.
Internet connectivity compliant with ICJS norms has increased from 16 percent to 50 percent of police stations, while the proportion of police stations using Cri-MAC (Crime Multi Agency Centre) has risen from 51 percent to 90 percent.
According to the official, 16,08,751 personnel have been trained over the past two years, including 15,30,790 police personnel, 43,941 prison officers, 3,036 forensic officers, 18,884 judicial officers and 12,100 public prosecutors.
Road ahead
According to the second officer, the next challenge is moving from implementation to steady-state operations with end-to-end integration across the ICJS ecosystem. “The dashboard of data is ready, what needs to be done is the transition from dashboard to decision engines,” the officer said.
The officer added that improving last-mile compliance and strengthening forensic capabilities remain key priorities. “The work to strengthen forensic capabilities is also on for even faster, high-quality, evidence delivery,” the officer said.
(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)
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