Maharashtra amends law to protect identities of acid attack victims’

The Maharashtra Legislative Council on Wednesday unanimously passed the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (Maharashtra Amendment) Bill 2026 to include provisions in the Shakti Bill to protect the identities of acid attack victims and ensure jail term for digital sexual overtures. The Bill to amend the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) in its application to the State of Maharashtra was earlier passed by the Assembly.

Speaking in the council, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who also heads the Home department, said that the Shakti Bill was passed by the State legislature in 2020 and sent to the Centre for the President’s assent.

The President had subsequently sent it back.

The State was told that the Centre was formulating a similar law combining the provisions of the then Indian Penal Code (IPC), CrPC (Code of Criminal Procedure) and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, he said.

The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), which replaced IPC, came into force in July 2024.

The Centre asked the State whether amendments to BNS with respect to Maharashtra were still required, he said.

Accordingly, a committee was formed to assess whether all aspects of the SHAKTI Criminal Laws (Maharashtra Amendment) Bill, 2020, which has provisions for strict punishment for crimes against women, were covered in the BNS, Fadnavis said.

Following the panel’s suggestion, two provisions - to protect the identities of acid attack victims and to ensure jail for online sexual harassment - have been added to the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (Maharashtra Amendment) Bill 2026, he said.

Since the provisions are not contained in the BNS, these amendments are proposed, according to the statement of objects and reasons of the Bill.

While Section 72 of the BNS concerns disclosure of the identities of survivors of certain sexual offences, it doesn’t include the victims of acid attacks, which have been covered as an offence under Section 124.

“The Government of Maharashtra, therefore, considers it expedient to provide punishment for disclosure of identity of the victim of acid attack by amending the said section 72, suitably,” the statement of objects and reasons of the Bill said.

Similarly, BNS Section 75 covers acts that constitute offences of sexual harassment, but doesn’t include sexual harassment by email, social media or through any other electronic or digital mode like offensive communication, threat to upload or disseminate any photograph, sound or video file, it said.

“The Government of Maharashtra considers it expedient to include such acts of sexual harassment and to provide punishment by amending section 75,” it added.

The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (Maharashtra Amendment) Bill 2026 also proposes rigorous punishment of three years with a fine or both for online sexual harassment.

The Shakti Criminal Laws (Maharashtra Amendment) Bill, 2020, has been inspired by the Disha Act of Andhra Pradesh and other similar laws.