Akhilesh Chandra Saxena
Bareilly: Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Rohilkhand University, Bareilly on the occasion of Golden Jubilee organized the National Conference on the title “Navigating Criminal Law Reforms in India 2023.”
The program on three new criminal laws was inaugurated by the chief guest by lighting the lamp in front of Goddess Saraswati, at the Atal Auditorium of Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Rohilkhand University, Bareilly. Saraswati Vandana was sung by the girl students in front of Ma Saraswati. The teachers and officials of the university welcomed the chief guest and other guests and speakers with bouquets. The program was organized in collaboration with Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar Police Academy, Moradabad.
The conference was started by Dr Amit Singh’s welcome speech. Dr. Singh told that the justice system is related to good governance. A healthy judicial system ensures good governance. The new laws are part of a concrete process of changing unworkable laws.
After this, the Keynote speaker, Ramit Sharma, A. D.G. Zone, Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, while discussing the structure of the three laws, explained that they are victim-centric rather than punitive. Through statistics, he explained that under the old laws, conviction in heinous cases were very low and this number would improve under the new laws. Gender equality has been fully taken care of in the new laws. In these, strong use of technology has been kept in mind. In his speech, Sharma asked the critics of the laws to have a detailed discussion and not just criticize for the sake of criticism. Sharma discussed in detail the main features of the new laws. He informed the audience about the changes in e-trial and e-investigation as well as penal provisions. Informed about the need and status of infrastructure in implementation of laws and asked the students to contribute towards a better tomorrow.
In this sequence, Guest Vinod Kumar, District and Sessions Judge, Bareilly discussed zero FIR, speedy justice and new crimes added in the new laws. Speaker Rajesh Shukla, Additional Director Prosecution, Bareilly had a detailed discussion on the Bhartiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (Rules) 2024 and the provisions of Bhartiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 2023 were also explained in simple manner.
The Guest of Honour Justice Arun Kumar Singh Deshwal Allahabad High Court kept practical law as the main part of the address. He said that the new laws ensure time constraints in medical examination, evidence collection and decision making etc. He drew the attention of the audience towards the lack of forensic infrastructure and also appreciated the arrangements for audio video recording during various proceedings like search and seizure.
The Chief guest Justice Siddharth Varma of Allahabad High Court discussed the provisions of Summary Trial Procedural Law and discussed the efforts of the Vice Chancellor of MJP Rohilkhand University.
The main topic of discussion was the implementation of the law along with social changes and the difficulties to be faced. He also explained the objectives of the conference.
Then the achievements of the university were shared by Vice Chancellor Professor K.P. Singh. He told about the new law and technical courses running in the university and expressed his views on starting industrial courses and military science courses in the university. A quiz competition was organized in the middle of the conference in which the winning students were awarded.
A Poster competition was also organized in the conference. Under which, the first prize from Law Department was given to Mohit Singh, second prize was given to Priya Goyal, third to Mohit Sagar. Apart from this, first prize from Social Science Department was given to Shraddha, second to Deepanshi Upadhyay, third prize was given to Akshita. Other students like Vaishali, Rashi etc. were also awarded.
Bareilly Bar Association President Manoj Harit, Shashi Devi Sharma and Dr. Anu Mahajan were the judges in the poster competition. The vote of thanks was presented by the Registrar of the University, Sanjeev Kumar Singh. He expressed gratitude to the chief guest, key speakers, teachers, steering committee members and employees present in the conference.
In the ceremony, the book Exploring Legal Safeguard for Personality Rights in the Era of Artificial Intelligence by Dr. Amit Singh and scholar Nidhi Shanker was released by the chief guest. The program was hosted by Dr. Jyoti Pandey.
In the program organized, about 800 people were present in the Atal Auditorium of the University, in which 100 police officers, scholars, advocates, professors, teacher, researchers, LLB, LLM students and students of other disciplines and employees were present. The program ended with the national anthem.
