New Delhi: From the passing of three Bills on India’s criminal justice system that will replace the century-old laws and signing of peace agreements with insurgency groups in the Northeast to the passing of a bill changing the governance model of Delhi and cracking down on terror outfits and foreign-based gangsters and ethnic conflict in the state of Manipur, 2023 was a “watershed year” for the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
In a statement released Sunday, the MHA listed its year’s achievements.
The year ended with a tripartite peace accord between the Centre, the Assam government and the insurgency outfit United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA), which was hailed by Home Minister Amit Shah as historic pact that will pave the way for complete end of insurgency and continuation of overall development in the state.
In the last session of the parliament, the MHA managed to pass the three criminal law bills with the idea of “overhauling” the criminal justice system in the country. The laws — Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 — have been approved by the President and will replace the colonial era Indian Penal Code, the Code of Criminal Procedure and the Indian Evidence Act of 1872, respectively.
Continuing its crackdown on the pro-Pakistan outfits in Jammu and Kashmir, the MHA declared four as “Terrorist Organisations”, while three outfits have been declared as “Unlawful Associations” this year. The ministry has also come down heavily on individuals involved in acts of terrorism and seven individuals have been declared as “Individual Terrorists” this year.
The ministry enacted two more laws with a direct impact on the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
Bills such as the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill, 2023, and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization (Amendment) Bill, 2023, proposed during the winter session of the parliament, which aimed to give “rights to those who faced injustice” and bring fair representation to all people in the Union territory, were passed during the winter session of the parliament.
The ministry also managed to set up 33 new security camps in Maoist-dominated regions, such as Barmasia and Chakarbanda in Bihar and Budha Pahad and Parasnath in Jharkhand, to control the spread and threat of Left wing extremism.
Earlier in April, the MHA ended the five-decade-old border dispute between Arunachal Pradesh and Assam by signing the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the states in the presence of Shah.
While the ethnic conflict has been ongoing in the Northeast state of Manipur for six months, the MHA managed to sign a peace deal with the United National Liberation Front (UNLF), the oldest valley-based group of Manipur that, since its inception in 1964, has sought the “establishment of an independent nation by the secession of Manipur from India through armed struggle, and to incite indigenous people of Manipur for such secession”.
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)