Smoking aboard metro may no longer be criminal. Also, if your pig wanders... | Jan Vishwas Bill 2026 explained

E-PaperSubscribeSubscribeEnjoy unlimited accessSubscribe Now! Get features like Consider this sequence of events, entirely possible under the current laws in India — a pig wanders out of its pen and spoils a neighbour's kitchen garden. Police are called. The pig's owner is charged with a criminal offence, produced before a magistrate, and potentially fined ₹10 — a sum last considered adequate as punishment in 1871. Actions such as smoking in the metro remain illegal, but the category of offence changes under the Jan Vishwas Bill 2026. (PTI Photo)Now picture this, more plausible scenario: we are in Delhi, and a man is urinating himself against a wall, thus technically guilty of a criminal offence punishable under the New Delhi Municipal Council Act. Now, say, you are in a metro compartment, and a fellow commuter lights a cigarette. That person just committed a criminal offence, with a fine of ₹250 that hasn't been revised since the 1980s. These are not hypotheticals, but actual laws, and they represent a problem that the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2026, directly seeks to address. Introduced in Lok Sabha last week by the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the proposed legislation, or bill, proposes to decriminalise at least 717 minor violations across 80 central laws, replacing the risk of arrest, prosecution, and jail with civil penalties, administrative adjudication, and in many cases, a warning first. It is the third edition of such reforms. The bill will become an Act, or law, only if both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha clear it and the President signs. Here are some proposed changes, picked for brevity and illustration, that show what the new bill means in practice. Under the NDMC Act's existing Section 308, "easing oneself" near a public street — statutory euphemism for urinating or defecating in public — is a criminal offence. It sits on a long list of defined nuisances, including indecent exposure and improper disposal of “night soil” or fecal matter. These are all punishable as criminal matters; and ₹50 as fine. The bill proposes to restructure this framework. Section 369 will be replaced, swapping "punishable" with "liable to penalty" throughout. "Commission of nuisances" under Section 308 now attracts a ₹500 civil penalty. A new Section 370 further requires that, for a category of violations, a warning notice must be issued first. Section 372, which made certain offences cognizable, meaning police could arrest without a warrant, is omitted entirely in the proposed legislation. The Calcutta Metro Railway (Operation and Maintenance) Temporary Provisions Act, 1985, carried only Kolkata’s earlier name, but it governs metro railways nationally, says smoking in any compartment, carriage, or underground station is a criminal offence with a maximum fine of ₹250. The bill replaces the provision with a new section that imposes an immediate penalty of ₹2,000 plus compulsory forfeiture of the passenger's pass or ticket. But it is not a criminal offence, only a civil misdemeanour. The smoker may also be physically removed from the compartment. If they refuse to pay, only then does the matter go to a competent court, which may impose a fine of up to ₹5,000, with a minimum of ₹2,000. The penalty is eight times the old maximum but is civil, not criminal, from the outset. Under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, Section 194F made sounding your horn needlessly or continuously, or honking in a designated silence zone, a criminal offence from the first occasion, with a fine of ₹1,000 rising to ₹2,000 for repeat offenders. The bill proposes to replace this with a gradual, non-criminal response. The first offence would earn only a recorded warning in a format to be prescribed by the central government. No fine, no criminal record attached. Only from the second violation onwards would a civil penalty of ₹1,000 to ₹2,000 kick in. The same logic is extended to Section 190(2)(ii): vehicles violating noise pollution standards get a warning on the first occasion, and a civil penalty of up to ₹10,000 only upon a repeat action. Milking cattle or tethering animals in public streets in New Delhi is an offence that under the current law attracts a criminal case and a fine of ₹100, with a daily continuing fine of ₹5 in case the offence continues. The new bill turns this into a civil offence. The new penalty would be ₹1,000, and a warning must be issued first. The animals can still be impounded; the process just no longer requires a magistrate's court. Similarly, keeping a "ferocious dog" unmuzzled in a Delhi public street moves from criminal offence with a police/court record against your name, to a ₹1,000 civil penalty. Under the Railways Act, 1989, Section 144 at present makes both begging and unlicensed hawking in any railway coach or station a criminal offence carrying up to one year's imprisonment, or a fine up to ₹2,000, or both. The new bill substitutes the section entirely. Unlicensed hawking now attracts a flat ₹2,000 civil penalty. Begging attracts a ₹1,000 civil penalty and removal from the train. Courts are only involved if the person refuses to pay this fine. Under the existing Delhi Police Act, 1978, exhibiting mimetic, musical, or other performances that attract crowds and obstruct or annoy the public was regulated under a framework that included cognizable criminal provisions if permissions were not taken. The new bill omits over half a dozen sections. The remaining legal setup under a new section sets the penalty at ₹100. Only upon default of payment can there be imprisonment, not exceeding eight days. But it is a default-of-payment offence mechanism, not the primary punishment for illegal street performances. Also read | Artemis II launch ahead: Why it's taken over five decades for Nasa to look to the moon again for a crewed mission This is among the most consequential changes proposed for motorists. Under the MV Act at present, driving a vehicle without a valid third-party insurance certificate is punishable from the first offence with imprisonment of up to three months, or a fine of ₹2,000, or both. A repeat offence attracts the same imprisonment with a ₹4,000 fine. The bill removes imprisonment entirely. The new penalty, for the first offence, is three times the base insurance premium for that class of vehicle, or ₹5,000, whichever is higher. A repeat offence costs five times the base premium or ₹10,000, whichever is higher. Taken together, these proposed changes carry a common logic: that treating minor civic violations as criminal acts, with FIRs, courts, and potential jail terms imposes undue costs on citizens, police, and the judiciary, disproportionate to the offences involved. The Jan Vishwas Bill's answer is to replace the old apparatus with civil penalties, adjudicating officers, and in many cases a warning-first principle. Courts and criminal prosecution are reserved for those who wilfully refuse to comply. It is, as per the bill's Statement of Objects and Reasons, an attempt to make India's regulatory landscape "predictable, transparent and fair”. Aarish Chhabra is an Associate Editor with the Hindustan Times online team, writing news reports and explanatory articles, besides overseeing coverage for the website. His career spans nearly two decades across India's most respected newsrooms in print, digital, and broadcast. He has reported, written, and edited across formats — from breaking news and live election coverage, to analytical long-reads and cultural commentary — building a body of work that reflects both editorial rigour and a deep curiosity about the society he writes for. Aarish studied English literature, sociology and history, besides journalism, at Panjab University, Chandigarh, and started his career in that city, eventually moving to Delhi. He is also the author of ‘The Big Small Town: How Life Looks from Chandigarh’, a collection of critical essays originally serialised as a weekly column in the Hindustan Times, examining the culture and politics of a city that is far more than its famous architecture — and, in doing so, holding up a mirror to modern India. In stints at the BBC, The Indian Express, NDTV, and Jagran New Media, he worked across formats and languages; mainly English, also Hindi and Punjabi. He was part of the crack team for the BBC Explainer project replicated across the world by the broadcaster. At Jagran, he developed editorial guides and trained journalists on integrity and content quality. He has also worked at the intersection of journalism and education. At the Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad, he developed a website that simplified academic research in management. At Bennett University's Times School of Media in Noida, he taught students the craft of digital journalism: from newsgathering and writing, to social media strategy and video storytelling. Having moved from a small town to a bigger town to a mega city for education and work, his intellectual passions lie at the intersection of society, politics, and popular culture — a perspective that informs both his writing and his view of the world. When not working, he is constantly reading long-form journalism or watching brainrot content, sometimes both at the same time.Read More