Jharkhand HC Takes Suo Moto Cognizance Of 'Error' In 'Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita' Published By 'Universal LexisNexis', Directs Urgent Correction

The division bench of Justices Ananda Sen and Subhash Chand emphasized the impact of such errors, noting, “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.”

“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,” the bench added.

The Court highlighted the significance of the new laws, including the Bhartiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita 2023, Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023, and Bhartiya Sakshya Sanhita 2023, which replaced the Code of Criminal Procedure 1973, Indian Penal Code 1860, and Indian Evidence Act 1872, effective from July 1, 2024.

The Court noted, “Today is a red-letter day for the Indian Legal System,” emphasizing the need for accuracy in the publication of these laws.

While examining the BNS 2023 published by Universal LexisNexis, the Court found that the omission of the word "similar" in Section 103(2) changes the interpretation of the provision.

The correct version, as per the Gazette Notification of the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 bearing CG-DL-E-25122023-250883 dated December 25, 2023, should read

6. In Section 103(2) of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita, published and printed by “Universal LexisNexis” the word “similar” after the phrase “or any other” and before the word “ground” has been omitted. This omission of the word has a huge impact. 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 observed, “error apparent is substantiated from the fact that a comment based on the notes of the Bill has also been printed in the Bare Act, wherein the phrase “or any other similar ground” has been mentioned. 7. We have also gone through several other publications like Professional Book Depot, Delhi; Kamal Law House, Kolkata, Eastern Book Company and other publishers, where we find that in all these publications, the word “similar” finds places, which is there as per the Gazette Notification.”

“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,” the Court added.

Additionally, the Court directed that the Bare Acts and Criminal Manual related to Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, published by Universal LexisNexis, which have not yet been sold and are still with booksellers or distributors, should not be sold further unless their contents are corrected. They should only be sold after the necessary rectifications are made.

The Court further directed Universal LexisNexis to inform the Court of the steps they will take to correct the copies of the Bare Acts and Criminal Manual related to Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita that have already been sold and supplied to advocates, institutions, and the public at large.

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