Jharkhand High Court flags mistake in Universal LexisNexis' Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, initiates suo motu case

The Jharkhand High Court on Monday flagged an error in the Bare Act - Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita published by Universal LexisNexis and asked the publishing house to take urgent steps to rectify the mistake..A Bench of Justices Ananda Sen and Subhash Chand found the error in relation to Section 103 (2) of the new criminal law which replaces the Indian Penal Code. The provision relates to the offence of mob lynching..The Court found that the word “similar” after the phrase “or any other” and before the word “ground” has been omitted in Section 103(2) of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita as published and printed by Universal LexisNexis . This omission of the word has a huge impact, it observed."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 said.The Court made the remarks while taking suo motu cognisance of the issue on the day the new criminal laws came into force."Today is a red letter day for the Indian Legal System. Three new laws, i.e., (1) Bhartiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita 2023; (2) Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 and Bhartiya Sakshya Sanhita is seeing the light of the day. All these three laws has been made effective from today, i.e., 1st July, 2024, replacing the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973; Indian Penal Code, 1860 and Indian Evidence Act, 1872," the Court observed..It further noted that 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, it added."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.".While flagging the error in the bare act published by Universal LexisNexis, the Court, however, also said that the error may not be deliberate."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."Nevertheless, the Court stressed that the publisher should take urgent appropriate steps to rectify this error without any delay as a large number of copies 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," it said..The Court further suggested that the copies which have not been sold and are lying with the book sellers or distributors should not be sold further unless its contents are rectified and corrected."Further, Universal LexisNexis will inform this Court as to what steps they are taking to make necessary correction in relation to their Bare Acts and Criminal Manual so far as Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita is concerned, which has been sold and supplied to the Advocates, Institutions and public at large," it ordered..[Read Order]