The agitation of lawyers’ bodies against the proposed amendments in the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) gained momentum on Saturday with as many as 26 bar associations of Delhi and NCR regions deciding to go on a day’s strike on January 14.

The lawyers are objecting to the amendments in the CrPC that do away with mandatory arrest of the accused in offences entailing punishment upto seven years in jail.

The decision of “complete absentation” from work was taken in a meeting held on Saturday, in which representatives from various bar associations from the Capital and nearby places like Meerut, Sonepat and Alwar participated and resolved to support the campaign.

Voicing concern over the “directionless and meaningless” changes in the CrPC, Rajiv Khosla, spokeperson of the coordination committee, told Newsline that the amendment would lead to a dangerous situation where criminals will have no fear of arrest.

“There can be no logic or societal interest in glossing over the deterrence effects of arrests. In place of enacting laws to prevent society from further perpetration of crimes, the government is bringing changes that would give rise to crimes and corruption,” said Khosla.

Dubbing the move as “anti-public and anti-social,” Khosla said that the anticipated changes were in a way against the constitutional guarantee of life and liberty as the criminals would find it easy to commit offences against innocent people and evade arrests.

Mahesh Sharma, chairman of the committee, concurred with Khosla’s views, saying the nation could not benefit from the legislations that jeopardised larger public interest on the ground of granting individual liberty to offenders.

“Which victim will dare to come and testify against a criminal who is roaming freely in society? The said amendment can only dent the rule of law,” added Sharma.

The committee also rejected the notion that the amendments would help in getting rid of ‘capricious arrests’ being made by the police and claimed that it would in fact accord wider powers to them, further aiding in corruption in the force.

“We urge President Pratibha Patil not to giver her assent to the bill and send it back to the Parliament. The committee will also meet her, the Prime Minister and the Home Minister, requesting them to reconsider the bill and send it to the Review Committee of the Parliament for taking the holistic view after hearing all concerned,” said Khosla.

Corporate frauds would also slip away

It was Tuesday when the coordination committee had, for the first time, come out with a list of offences that would keep the accused free from arrest in view of the proposed changes in the CrPC.

Three days later, it seems that the committee has kept up with the changing times and has put the case of the massive fraud in Satyam Computers at the top of its list.