Amit Shah sets one-year target for full rollout of new criminal laws

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 in New Delhi, 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 Home Minister stressed the importance of integrating data from the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS), Inter-Operable Criminal Justice System (ICJS), NATGRID and National Automated Fingerprint Identification System (NAFIS). He urged young police and security officers to use data integration, analysis and artificial intelligence to develop actionable intelligence, identify criminal modus operandi and anticipate emerging security threats.
He said the government has “ended” the challenges posed by three major internal-security hotspots– Naxals, Jammu and Kashmir terror and Northeast insurgency– and credited the police forces of all states, central agencies and Central Armed Police Forces for the achievement. He said that had earlier governments visualised the problems of narcotics, Naxalism and the Northeast before they became acute, the country would not have had to bear the brunt of them for decades.Shah said the destruction of the entire cadre and banning of the Popular Front of India (PFI) in one night was an “excellent example” of Centre-state coordination.
“This country is not a dharamshala and only the citizens of the country have the right to live in this country, infiltrators are a threat to the country’s security, economy and demographic change,” he said. Shah said that whenever a country decides to move forward, challenges inevitably emerge both from within the country and from across the world, and we must visualize them in advance.
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.