Law enforcement agencies should not consider borders as a hindrance: Amit Shah

As crimes and criminals do not respect geographical boundaries, agencies should consider them as meeting points for solving crimes, he tells a gathering of top Commonwealth law officers

Union Home Minister Amit Shah during the valedictory function of Commonwealth Attorneys and Solicitors General Conference 2024, in New Delhi, on February 4, 2024. | Photo Credit: PTI

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday said that crimes and criminals do not respect geographical borders and hence, different law enforcement agencies also should not consider any border as a hindrance. Instead, they should consider them as meeting points for solving crimes, he said, addressing a conference of Attorneys and Solicitors General from the Commonwealth nations.

Mr. Shah also said that when the three recently enacted criminal justice laws are implemented, one can get justice up to the High Court level within three years of registering a first information report (FIR).

Cross-border law enforcement

The Home Minister said that the Commonwealth conference was taking place at a time when geographical borders have no sense when it comes to commerce and crime. He said that there were cross-border challenges for justice delivery, trade, commerce, and communication, adding that 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 a hindrance. In future, geographical borders should be the meeting point for solving crimes," he said.

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

Speedy justice

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

These new laws will replace the colonial-era Indian Penal Code, the Code of Criminal Procedure, and the Indian Evidence Act, respectively.

Mr. Shah said that the government has worked on the model that justice essentially should have three As, by being 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.