Union home minister Amit Shah on Tuesday introduced three reworked bills in the Lok Sabha to replace criminal laws after incorporating recommendations made by a parliamentary panel, including the definition of “terrorist act” encompassing “economic security”.

“Whoever does any act with the intent to threaten or likely to threaten the unity, integrity, sovereignty, security or economic security of India or with the intent to strike terror or likely to strike terror in the people or any section of the people in India or in any foreign country….,” the revised Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Bill says. The punishment for such acts is life imprisonment.

In the revised bills, at least five changes have been made. Two more sections have been added to the revised new criminal bill — Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

In the previous version of the bill, Section 85 recommended a three-year jail term for subjecting a woman to cruelty by her husband or in-laws. In the revised bill, Section 86 has been added to define “cruelty” to include harming a woman’s mental and physical health.

Revealing the identity of a sexual assault survivor without permission has been made a punishable offence with a two-year jail term.

Shah said only five sections had been tweaked and most of the changes relate to grammar and language. He said instead of bringing several official amendments to incorporate the recommendations of the Parliamentary Committee on Home Affairs, the government decided to introduce fresh bills making the changes.

The discussion on the bills will take place on Thursday and voting will be done the next day.

The parliamentary panel headed by BJP MP Brij Lal has sought some changes, including suggestions to safeguard the authenticity and integrity of electronic and digital records acquired during the course of the investigation.

“The Committee is of the opinion that safeguarding the authenticity and integrity of electronic and digital records acquired during the course of investigation is crucial due to the fact that such evidences are prone to tampering,” says the parliamentary panel report.

“The Committee takes into account the suggestion submitted before the Committee and recommends that a provision may be inserted to mandate that all electronic and digital records acquired as evidence during the course of investigation are securely handled and processed through a proper chain of custody. Appropriate provision in this regard may be made in the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023,” it adds.

The redrafted bill seeks to replace the Indian Penal Code (IPC) of 1860 with the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. The Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita will replace the Code of Criminal Procedure or the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) while the Bharatiya Sakshya will replace the Indian Evidence Act.

In August the Centre had tabled the three bills with the stated objective of overhauling colonial-era criminal laws.

The bills seek to facilitate the death penalty for mob lynching and sexual assaults on minors and replace sedition with a new offence of “endangering the unity” of the country. One of the bills aims at criminalising defamation, which had earlier prompted some lawyers to accuse the government of trying to criminalise satire and dissent.