Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday introduced three amended bills in the Lok Sabha to replace criminal laws in the country, The Hindu reported.

The three proposed laws are the Bharatiya Nyaya (Second) Sanhita, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha (Second) Sanhita and Bharatiya Sakshya (Second) Bill. The bills are proposed to replace the Indian Penal Code of 1860, the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1973 and the Indian Evidence Act of 1872.

Shah retracted the previous versions of the bills he had introduced during the Monsoon Session. The home minister said that a discussion on the bills will take place on December 14 and a reply to the debate will be given on December 15

“The major changes in the three bills are in three to four subsections,” he said. “Other changes are mainly grammatical in nature.”

The Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita, introduced during the Monsoon Session, increased the number of crimes that can attract the death penalty from 11 to 15. The government also claimed that the offence of sedition has been removed from the criminal code.

While there is no mention of “sedition” in the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Clause 150 of the proposed code contains provisions similar to Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code, which deals with sedition.

Clause 150 reads: “Whoever, purposely or knowingly, by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representation, or by electronic communication or by use of financial mean, or otherwise, excites or attempts to excite, secession or armed rebellion or subversive activities, or encourages feelings of separatist activities or endangers sovereignty or unity and integrity of India; or indulges in or commits any such act shall be punished with imprisonment for life or with imprisonment which may extend to seven years and shall also be liable to fine.”

The terms “electronic communication”, “use of financial means” and “subversive activities” are left undefined.