Jharkhand HC Takes Suo Moto Cognizance Of 'Error' In 'Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita' Published By 'Universal LexisNexis', Directs Urgent Correction

The Jharkhand High Court has taken Suo Motu cognizance of a significant error in the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) 2023 published by Universal LexisNexis. The Court identified a major discrepancy in Section 103(2), where the phrase "any other ground" was printed instead of "any other similar ground." According to the Court, this omission has serious implications for the interpretation and application of the law.#JustIn | #JharkhandHighCourt today today took suo moto cognizance of an error concerning the 'lynching' [Section 103 (2)] provision in the bare act of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) published by 'Universal LexisNexis.' pic.twitter.com/TcBRNjKZEj— Live Law (@LiveLawIndia) July 1, 2024The division bench of Justices Ananda Sen and Subhash Chand emphasized the impact of such errors, noting, “Since these three laws have entirely changed, several publishers have come forward to publish Bare Acts and Criminal Manuals. There are numerous publishers in the market and there is huge demand for these Bare Acts.”“Publishers have also printed these Bare Acts in huge quantity and the same have been and are being purchased by large number of people, including Advocates, Courts, Libraries, and Law Enforcing Agencies and several institutions. Thus, any publication of these laws are expected to be without any error. Any small error at any place will have a huge impact on interpretation of the law and also their applications. A small typographical error or an omission will lead to great injustice and embarrassment to all concerned even to the lawyers and Court,” the bench added.The Court highlighted the significance of the new laws, including the Bhartiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita 2023, Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023, and Bhartiya Sakshya Sanhita 2023, which replaced the Code of Criminal Procedure 1973, Indian Penal Code 1860, and Indian Evidence Act 1872, effective from July 1, 2024. The Court noted, “Today is a red-letter day for the Indian Legal System,” emphasizing the need for accuracy in the publication of these laws.While examining the BNS 2023 published by Universal LexisNexis, the Court found that the omission of the word "similar" in Section 103(2) changes the interpretation of the provision. The correct version, as per the Gazette Notification of the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 bearing CG-DL-E-25122023-250883 dated December 25, 2023, should read“103(1) ...(2) When a group of five or more persons acting in concert commits murder on the ground of race, caste or community, sex, place of birth, language, personal belief or any other similar ground each member of such group shall be punished with death or with imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to fine.6. In Section 103(2) of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita, published and printed by “Universal LexisNexis” the word “similar” after the phrase “or any other” and before the word “ground” has been omitted. This omission of the word has a huge impact. This omission in the publication made by Universal LexisNexis, in fact, entirely changes the intent, purport and interpretation of Section 103(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. This will give a wrong impression to all person concerned and there are high probabilities that by these provisions as printed and published by “Universal LexisNexis”, may cause injustice.”The Court observed, “error apparent is substantiated from the fact that a comment based on the notes of the Bill has also been printed in the Bare Act, wherein the phrase “or any other similar ground” has been mentioned. 7. We have also gone through several other publications like Professional Book Depot, Delhi; Kamal Law House, Kolkata, Eastern Book Company and other publishers, where we find that in all these publications, the word “similar” finds places, which is there as per the Gazette Notification.”“We are not saying that this error is deliberate, but may be a human error and might have been caused due to oversight, but this error can become fatal and embarrassing to all concerned, thus, it needs to be cured immediately,” the Court added.The Court directed that the Publisher, Universal LexisNexis should immediately take urgent appropriate steps to rectify this error without any delay as, “because naturally large number of copies of this Bare Acts and Criminal Manual must have been published and sold to numerous advocates, Courts, institutions and individuals. By way of immediate measure, they should highlight this error and publish prominently a corrigendum along with correct provision in each and every National Newspaper of the country published in English and also in all leading Newspapers, published in vernacular languages which have wide circulation in each and every State and Union Territory of the country. This publication must be given prominence so that it catches the eyes of all the readers very easily.”Additionally, the Court directed that the Bare Acts and Criminal Manual related to Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, published by Universal...

Jharkhand HC Takes Suo Moto Cognizance Of 'Error' In 'Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita' Published By 'Universal LexisNexis', Directs Urgent Correction

Bhavya Singh

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