New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday set a one-year deadline for 100 per cent implementation of the three new criminal laws, saying the move will enable disposal of criminal cases up to the Supreme Court within three years and raise the conviction rate by 25 per cent.
Addressing the valedictory session of the Intelligence Bureau’s two-day ninth National Security Strategies (NSS) Conference-2026 that concluded on Tuesday, Shah said the forum of NSS needs to anticipate security challenges 15-20 years ahead and devise strategies to prevent them from becoming major threats.
The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BSA) came into effect on July 1, 2024. The new laws replaced the British-era Indian Penal Code, Code of Criminal Procedure and the Indian Evidence Act, respectively.
Shah said the government was working towards strengthening border security and making the country “infiltrator-free” in a short period. He said he had visited all land-border states over the past eight months and shared with them a document outlining a quadrangular approach to border security.
The Home Minister described infiltration as a threat to India’s security, economy and demographic balance, asserting that only citizens of the country have the right to live in it.
Emphasising the growing importance of technology in national security and policing, Shah said an integrated database linking the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network & Systems (CCTNS), Interoperable Criminal Justice System (ICJS), National Intelligence Grid (NatGrid) and National Automated Fingerprint Identification System (NAFIS) has been created.
The Home Minister also urged young intelligence and police officers to use integrated data, advanced analysis and artificial intelligence to generate actionable intelligence and identify criminal modus operandi. Such technology-driven intelligence, he said, would be critical to anticipating and preventing future security challenges.
Shah’s remarks underscore the government’s focus on simultaneously transforming the criminal justice system, tightening border security and using data and artificial intelligence to strengthen national security.
The three-year case-disposal target, coupled with the proposed increase in conviction rates, places greater emphasis on faster investigation, prosecution and judicial processes across the criminal justice system.
