RETROSPECTIVE EFFECT OF BHARATIYA NYAYA SANHITA, 2023: A BOON OR BANE-WITH SPECIFIC REFERENCE TO ORGANISED CRIMES

Principle of Legality is the foundation of any Criminal Justice System either national or international. Any legislature or instruments or guidelines shall take effect from the date of entry into force. The maxim of Nullumcrimen sine legeand Nullumpoena sine legeprotects the rights of both victim and innocent accused who has been booked into a criminal case. The exception for this principle such as Principle of Lex Scripta(written or statutory law)and lexpraevia(previous law) which has been discussed analyzed and applied in the Nuremberg Tribunal to punish the War Criminals of World War II. The International Criminal Law initiated the invoking process of this application way back in 1945 and still in practice by the International Criminal Court. To the contrary, the Indian Legal System, in rarest of rare cases only applies the non-positivist law which violates the Principle of Legality in Criminal Justice System. Even in the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 2013 the executive powers refused to give retrospective effects to the rape laws amended in 2013. Further, any such violations are considered to be a serious violation of fundamental rights protected under Art. 20(1) of the Constitution of India, Ex post facto law. The new Penal Law, Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 expressly made the application of Retrospective Effect of an offence Organised Crime under section 111. This provision gives 10 years of retrospective effect and permits the investigating agency to alter the charge of such offence to sec.111 of BNS, 2023 even after cognizance stage. This paper will analyze about the legal implications of such application and possible use and abuses of sec.111 of BNS, 2023 on retrospective effect. Further, the author will compare the same with international criminal justice system.