Accompanied by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, PM Modi was briefed by Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Kanwardeep Kaur about the implementation of three transformative new criminal laws in Chandigarh with registration of 900 plus first information reports (FIRs) and four convictions in the past five months.

These laws aim to overhaul India’s criminal justice system, focusing on transparency, efficiency, and addressing modern challenges.

PM Modi also inspected the exhibition depicting the implementation of criminal laws by simulating a crime scene investigation on the campus of Punjab Engineering College, where a dummy police station was set up.

The presentation, themed “Secure Society, Developed India: From Punishment to Justice”, took place at an exhibition spread across eight stations, providing Prime Minister Modi with a live experience of how law enforcement, forensic teams, judicial authorities and prisons have become more efficient and technology-driven since the implementation of the laws.

A crime scene was depicted with a distress call at the Police Control Room. At the crime scene, the e-Sakshya app digitally recorded all evidence from the scene, including photos, videos and timestamps, which are then sent directly to the court. In this scene, the forensic team collects crucial evidence, while the “victim’s family member” identifies the body.

Home Minister Shah was seen explaining to Prime Minister Modi about the operation of the new laws for speedy justice, starting from the collection of evidence at the crime scene to providing solace to the victim’s family.

Chandigarh is the first city in the country where 100 per cent implementation of all three laws has been completed.

The three new criminal laws -- the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam -- replaced the British-era Indian Penal Code, Code of Criminal Procedure, and Indian Evidence Act, respectively, came into effect from July 1.

These landmark reforms mark a historic overhaul of the criminal justice system, bringing in new frameworks to tackle modern-day challenges such as cybercrime, and organised crime and ensuring justice for victims of various offences.

The local police also showcased the functionalities of applications such as e-Sakshya, Nyay Setu, Nyay Shruti and e-summons, which have been developed by the National Informatics Centre in collaboration with the National Crime Records Bureau.

Before heading to Chandigarh, PM Modi wrote on X, “A special day in our efforts to ensure speedy justice for every Indian and, at the same time, break free from colonial mindsets…will join the programme in Chandigarh to mark the successful implementation of the three new criminal laws…It’s a matter of immense joy that these laws are coming into being at a time when we mark 75 years of our Constitution being adopted by the Constituent Assembly.”

The conceptualisation of the three laws was driven by the vision of the Prime Minister to remove colonial-era laws that had continued to exist post-Independence and to transform the judicial system by shifting focus from punishment to justice.