The Parliamentary Standing Committee had recommended that the word ‘mental illness’ may be changed to ‘unsound mind’ as mental illness has too broad a meaning compared to unsound mind as it seems to include even mood swings or voluntary intoxication within its scope. .

New Delhi: The government, on the recommendation of a parliamentary panel, has introduced the term ‘unsound mind’ instead of ‘mental illness’ in the revised criminal law bills that seek to bring the Indian Penal Code, the CrPC and the Indian Evidence Act from the UK era to replace.

The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Bill was first introduced in the Lok Sabha on August 11, along with the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam bills. The proposed laws used the term ‘mental illness’ with the meaning given to it in clause (a) of section 2 of the Mental Healthcare Act, 2017.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs, headed by BJP MP Brijlal, had recommended that the word ‘mental illness’ in the proposed laws could be changed to ‘unsound mind’ as mental illness has too broad a meaning compared to unsound mind . as it even seems to include mood swings or voluntary intoxication within its scope.

The panel made these observations in its report, prepared after considering the proposed laws. The revised versions of the bills – Bharatiya Nyaya (Second) Sanhita, the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha (Second) Sanhita and the Bharatiya Sakshya (Second) Bill – introduced on Tuesday replaced the term ‘mental illness’ with ‘unsound mind’.

“Nothing is an offense committed by a person who, at the time of doing it, through unsoundness of mind, is incapable of knowing the nature of the act, or that he is doing something that is either wrong or contrary to is with the law. “, according to the revised version.

Two key recommendations from the panel – the inclusion of a gender-neutral provision criminalizing adultery and a clause criminalizing non-consensual sex between men, women, trans people and acts of bestiality in the BNZ – have been rejected by the government and not included. Also in the revised bill.

The government rejected the panel’s proposal to retain provisions of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code relating to carnal intercourse with minors and acts of bestiality in the proposed bills. The panel had also suggested that the IPC provision regarding adultery should be retained in the Sanhita by making it gender neutral ‘for the sake of protection of the institution of marriage’.