Months after a one-sided Lok Sabha passed three new criminal laws, amid suspension of Opposition lawmakers from both Houses of the Parliament, they came into effect from 1 July 2024. The Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita replaces the Indian Penal Code, the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita replaces the Code of Criminal Procedure and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam replaces the Evidence Act.

Homosexual sex has not been listed as a crime in the new laws. In 2018, Supreme Court had struck down Section 377 of IPC, decriminalising consensual same-sex relations between adults. But provisions could continue to be invoked in cases of non-consensual carnal intercourse with adults, carnal intercourse with minors, acts of bestiality (sex with animals) and in case of women initiating proceedings against her husband for unnatural sex. If these acts are not offences under the new laws, they leave victims of sodomy with no remedy available. Here are other key highlights of the new criminal laws...

Video Producer/Editor: Shohini Bose