There are various laws in India that have become redundant and obsolete, and a serious effort is needed to de-clog the legal system.
New Delhi: One of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s promises during the 2014 election campaign was a commitment to repeal 100 redundant laws in the first 100 days in office and conduct a statutory legal clean up. The NDA government passed the Repealing and Amending Bill (2014) after it came to power. Law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had praised it at the time saying the exercise of repealing redundant laws would de-clog the legal system.However, many laws continue to congest the system.
The Centre of Civil Society started the ‘Repeal of 100 laws project’ in 2014 to highlight some of the obsolete laws that should be repealed. Many of these date back to the pre-independence era and are quite possibly no longer needed.
In 2017, the independent organisation conducted another Repeal of Laws Project in 5 states — Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh. Here are some of the laws that stand out.
The Telangana Eunuchs Act, 1329 F
Telangana
The law
It seeks to ‘regulate’ the ‘behaviour of eunuchs’. ‘Eunuchs’ in female clothing singing or dancing in a public place may be arrested without a warrant and shall be punished with imprisonment or fine. It also prohibits any registered ‘eunuch’ from being guardian/keeping in control a boy of less than 16-years of age.
The act has been in force since 1919.
Reasons for repeal
Following the 2017 landmark judgement in K. Puttaswamy v Union of India, privacy is a fundamental right to all Indian citizens, including transgenders. The law asks for the registration of ‘eunuchs’ to keep them under surveillance which breaches the fundamental right to privacy.
There is widespread evidence that the existence of the Eunuchs Act has resulted in a pervasive practice of criminalisation, illegal detention, torture in custody, and extreme coercion, which includes a perennial threat of arrest.
Uttar Pradesh Opium Smoking Act, 1934
Uttar Pradesh
The law
It aims to regulate the smoking of opium by registering smokers above the age of 25. Nobody, except a registered smoker, shall smoke or manufacture prepared opium. Further, no person shall sell or offer for sale, prepared opium.
An unregistered smoker who is found smoking opium is punishable with imprisonment of three months, or a fine of Rs 500 or both.
Reasons for repeal
This law is redundant since it has failed its objective of regulating opium smoking and the registry of opium smokers no longer has a purpose. Furthermore, the act states that the registry be closed by September 1953, so it has become outdated.
The Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 is far more detailed in its definitions and comprehensive than the Uttar Pradesh Opium Smoking Act.
The Waste Land (Claims) Act, 1863
Chhattisgarh
The law
Any piece of land that was to be sold or otherwise dealt with by the then provincial government came under this law.
Reasons for repeal
The colonial government wanted to earn revenue from the control over waste-lands. Hence, the British sold land under such titles to the public. After independence, these wastelands went under the jurisdiction of the state.
Today, wasteland is viewed as a common property with close ties between the environment and the community living in and around it. The community derives sustenance from it.
Under the changed definition of wasteland and the role of the community in maintaining it, the existence of such an Act serves no purpose.
Maharashtra Kidney Transplantation Act, 1983
Maharashtra
The law
It provides provisions for the use of kidneys from deceased people and donation of the organ for therapeutic purposes.
It also states that if any person has expressed their wishes to donate the kidney, the person in lawful possession of the boy can authorise its removal, unless a near relative objects.
Reasons for repeal
In 1994, the Central government passed the Transplantation of Human Organs Act, and Maharashtra can ask for a similar law to be passed in the state, rendering the current one redundant.