First FIR under Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita filed against a Delhi street vendor

A First Information Report (FIR) has been filed against Pankaj Kumar, the street vendor from Bihar's Patna, for obstructing a road at the New Delhi Railway Station.

Police on Sunday night spotted the street vendor selling water bottles and gutkha at the railway station obstructing the road.

After he did not remove the makeshift stall despite the warning by police, a FIR was filed against the vendor.

The FIR, which was filed under Section 285 of BNS, said as quoted by NDTV, "The man was selling water, bidi and cigarettes on the street and the obstruction was causing difficulty for the public. The sub-inspector asked the man several times to remove the stall from the road, but he did not comply.

"The sub-inspector asked several passers-by to join the probe, but they refused. Then the sub-inspector shot a video using the e-praman application."

In a move which will completely overhaul the criminal justice system in the country; three newly enacted laws – the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam – will come into effect from Monday.

According to a notification by the Ministry of Home Affairs earlier, the three laws will replace the Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860; the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), 1973; and the Indian Evidence Act, 1872.

The three new criminal laws have incorporated several new provisions to suit contemporary times and technologies in vogue.

The three laws will focus on justice rather than punishment and are aimed at providing speedy justice, all the way, strengthening the judicial and court management system emphasising on ‘access to justice by all’.

The three new laws received Indian Parliament's nod on December 21, 2023 and President Droupadi Murmu gave her assent on December 25, 2023.

The new laws are coming into effect just weeks after PM Modi returned to power for the third straight term.