Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Sunday praised the BJP led government at the Centre for enacting three laws for governing criminal justice that symbolised our unshackling from colonial mindset.

Addressing the audience at a function for inauguration of District Court’s AIR library held at the Rajasthan International Center(RIC) here, he said- “This journey from Danda Vidhan to Nyaya Vidhan is a significant journey unshackling us from colonial mindset and colonial legacy”.

Dhankhar said that these three legislations were duly passed after careful analysis.The government had patiently, comprehensively deliberated on all aspects and every situation at the time of final drafting of each and every provision and clause in these laws.

Every provision of the laws was finalised after in depth study and discussion keeping in mind the background circumstances, reasons and objectives of the law. Technology too was duly incorporated for giving scientific dimensions to investigations.

Three laws that govern criminal justice are the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BSA). These laws came into effect on July 1 last replacing the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), and the Indian Evidence Act, respectively.

Dhankhar said that all be aware of the fact that every nation or civilisation is to be assessed and judged on criteria of status and state of affairs in its justice delivery system.

The Vice-President said – “We should also keep in mind that district courts are the basic foundation of our justice administration. “Let me say, if we aim at easy access to justice at affordable cost for all, we have to take care (of interests) of our district courts, magistrates, district judges and young and budding lawyers”.

“We have to hand-hold our young lawyers ; We must invest in them”, Dhankhar said.

Earlier, the VP inaugurated the A.I.R. Library and also released “The Lawyers Dairy – 2025”.

Dhankhar and his wife Dr Sudesh Dhankhar also planted saplings in memory of their late mothers, Kesari Devi and Bhagwati Devi at the RIC here.