Books on new criminal laws flood markets

The books are explainers on the three new criminal laws -- there are offerings by lawyers, legal experts, even a retired judge.

There are a bunch of new bestsellers in the bookshops of Chandigarh, all on the same topic, and all non-fiction.

Tarun Chautani, owner of Shree Ram House bookstore. (HT photo)

The books are explainers on the three new criminal laws -- there are offerings by lawyers, legal experts, even a retired judge.

The first fortnight of January has been a good business month for Ajay Sharma. The owner of Ajay Law Agency, a wholesale law books store has already sold over 4000 books on the three new criminal laws. He is now waiting for the laws to be notified and has asked different publishers to send at least 40,000 copies, which will be sent to distributors in Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh. In his 30 years of business, Sharma says he has never seen such a demand for law books.

“This is our bestseller. These books are selling because the amended laws affect the lives of everyone. We are getting orders from police, courts and law firms. Our distributors have also sold books in Delhi market,” he said.

Sharma is not alone. This is the story of most law book sellers and publishers in Chandigarh. Bookshops in the sector 17 Chandigarh market, one of the largest in the city, have been receiving visitors and telephonic orders asking for new books on the three laws. Sharma said there are over 40 different publishers who have published the first lot of the books on criminal laws.

Chandigarh will be the first city to implement the laws once these are notified by the Centre sometime later this month. Among the first buyers of these new books on the three criminal laws are Chandigarh police officers and lawyers because training classes for the police personnel have already started. They are being trained by faculty of the Chandigarh Judicial Academy.

In Delhi’s Jain Book Depot, which one of the most prominent bookstores in the national Capital, the growing demand has prompted the shopkeepers to put the new books on display. “The books on new criminal laws are selling like hotcakes. More than 40-50 books are being sold. We expect the number to increase every day. Delhi police bought the books from us. We put the books on display outside because many people are visiting the shop for it. The laws affect everyone, and they want to know about the changes,” store owner Manav Jain said.

Tarun Chautani, owner of the Shree Ram House, who has sold over 3,000 copies of the books, has ordered 4,000 more.

Separately, his team is at work to publish a pocket court book version of the three laws.

“The pocket court book version will ensure that lawyers do not have to worry about carrying the heavy books. They can just carry the pocket version in their pockets and use it whenever they need it. Separately, we will have guidebooks in which the major changes will be highlighted in bold colours, cognizable in one colour, non-cognizable in another. Crimes that require the police to mandatorily collect forensic evidence will be highlighted in another colour. Just wait till the laws are notified. These books will be a bestseller across the country,” Chautani said.

The laws – Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita and Bharatiya Sakshya — which seek to replace colonial era Indian Penal Code, Criminal Procedure Code and Indian Evidence act, were passed by Parliament last month and have been approved by the President.

“Some of us bought the guidebooks. A few of our colleagues were using the soft copy of the laws on their cell phones and laptops but it was difficult to browse each law. These new books also have comparison charts showing the changes in each section,” said sub inspector Sudesh Kumar, one of the 175 officers being trained in the new laws at the academy.

Sharma said that the first set of books on the laws were out by December 30 -- by which time he had already fielded several calls from lawyers asking for the books.

Sharma also publishes law books and is waiting for the laws to be notified after which he plans to publish explainers on them in local languages.

“We are going to hit record sales. Before this, when laws were amended, we hardly sold any books. Books such as Code of Civil Procedure were most sought after before this, but the sales were not extraordinarily high. Business is going to peak because of the new laws,” Sharma added.

As he is speaking to this reporter, his phone rings. He shows the screen — it says ADG Haryana Police.

After the call, he says: “That was a call from his office. I sent across 40 copies of the three books last week. Now they want 30 more.”