Strengthening law enforcement agencies must amidst borderless crime, criminals: Amit Shah

New Delhi, Feb 5 (Representative) Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday said crime and criminals do not recognise borders, and so law enforcement agencies will have to be strengthened to control them as otherwise, uncontrolled crime will make trade difficult.Speaking at the valedictory ceremony of CLEA-Commonwealth Attorneys and Solicitors General Conference here, Shah said, “No one can deny geographical borders and barriers in today’s interconnected world. But, both barrier and border have been removed from trade, commerce, communication and crime”. The Home Minister said in an era of technology, ‘cooperation’ and ‘coordination’ has to be made the key mantra for ensuring justice delivery, an official statement said. “When today’s global crime challenges do not respect the borders, then for the delivery of justice too, we will have to look at the borders as a means and not as an end,” he added.Stating that borders will have to be developed as meeting points and not obstacles in justice delivery, Shah said India has done a lot of work in this direction. He said, “We have changed its form in India by holding discussions with all stakeholders regarding resolving trade disputes and complete reform of criminal laws”. “We have increased the use of technology to the extent, that it will be possible to incorporate all the changes that will take place in technology in the coming 100 years,” he added.

He said justice cannot be delivered in the 21st century with laws of the 19th century. Shah said once the three new criminal laws — Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita, Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam – are fully implemented, India’s criminal justice system will become the most advanced criminal justice system in the world. The Home Minister further said it is very important to make the entire justice system 3A i.e. Accessible, Affordable and Accountable and there should be maximum use of technology for these three aspects. He said, “The new criminal laws have a place for both, technology and forensics and to promote evidence-based prosecution, we have made the visit of Scientific Officer mandatory for investigating cases punishable with a sentence of 7 years and more”. The minister urged the Attorneys and Solicitor Generals of the Commonwealth countries participating in the conference to share the actionable points discussed in the conference with the law-making agencies of their countries, shape the law and make efforts to fix the global order, only then this conference will be considered successful.