Law Enforcement Agencies Shouldn't Consider Borders as Hindrance: Amit Shah

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday said crimes and criminals do not respect geographical borders and hence, different law enforcement agencies should not consider any border as hindrance and rather consider them as meeting points for solving crimes.

Addressing the Commonwealth Legal Education Association (CLEA) – Commonwealth Attorneys and Solicitors General Conference (CASGC) here, Shah also said when the three recently enacted criminal justice laws will be implemented, one can get justice up to the level of high court within three years of registration of an FIR.

He said this conference is taking place at a time when geographical borders have no sense when it comes to commerce and crime.

The home minister said there are cross-border challenges for justice delivery, trade, commerce, communication and for trade and crime, there is no border.

”The crimes and criminals did not respect geographical borders. Therefore, the law enforcement agencies should not consider geographical borders as hindrance. In future, geographical borders should be the meeting point for solving crimes,” he said.

Shah said the governments need to work in this direction as from small cyber fraud to global organised crime, from local dispute to cross-border dispute, from local crime to terrorism, all have some kind of links.

Referring to the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita and the Bharatiya Sakshya Act, he said after the complete implementation of the three new laws, India will have the world’s most modern criminal justice systems.

The laws will replace the colonial era Indian Penal Code, the Code of Criminal Procedure and the Indian Evidence Act of 1872 respectively.

The home minister said the government has worked on the model that justice essentially should have three As – accessible, affordable and accountable.

”I want to assure everyone that after implementation of these three laws, there will be justice within three years, up to the level of the high court, in any FIR registered in the country,” he said.