B L Saraf
Succumbing to the electoral compulsions, the Congress lead UPA 2 Government has decided to introduce the Prevention of Communal and Targeted Violence Bill in the winter session of the Parliament. The Bill has been brought on the table of the MHA and the details are being sorted out. Muzaffar Nagar violence is the pretext. The Bill seeks to impose the duty, both on the State and the Central Governments, to exercise powers to prevent targeted violence, including mass violence against SCs STs and linguistic and religious minorities. The Bill, among other things, proposes to set up the National Authority for Communal Harmony, Justice and Reparation.
The Communal Violence Bill is brain child of the Sonia Gandhi lead NAC. The Government had introduced the Bill in the Parliament, in 2005, but it was later on withdrawn on the insistence of Sonia Gandhi, because she wanted more stringent clauses incorporated in it. NAC, too, found it inadequate in many respects and, therefore, came up with its own draft Prevention of Communal and Targeted Violence (Access to justice and Reparation) BILL, 2011. The Bill came in for strong criticism from various quarters, so the move got shelved then. The knowledgeable quarters, after examining the 2011 draft Bill, felt that its provisions would broaden the hiatus rather than addressing the communal problem, and the dispensation of justice envisaged in the Bill will, essentially, be preferential in character which will go against the rule of law.
The disastrous consequences of the Bill should it become a law were, then, discussed thread bare in the columns of the newspaper. Since the dreadful move has resurfaced the debate, which has restarted, must go far and wide. A bare look at the provisions of the new Bill would show that nothing much has changed so far as the Draconian impact of the proposed law is concerned. The Bill for the first time attempts to give crime a communal name and change the ingredients and severity of an offence depending upon religious faith of the victim. The Bill makes only that communal violence an offence for special treatment where it is directed against a person belonging to the religion of minority community. In support of this provision it is being argued by the framers of the Bill that whenever majority community is attacked the state acts with great urgency and becomes lethargic and looks other way when the victim belongs to a minority community. May be so! But it is highly preposterous to suggest separate laws and procedures for two different sections of the same society when all may be guilty of the same offence. Communal violence is not and can’t be alwaysa one way traffic. Roles may reverse. After all we have seen in the case of Radhabai Chawl in Mumbai and Sabarmati express coach burning themembers of the majority community were at the receiving end. Though the aftermath of Godhra has been a nightmare for the minority community. The perpetrators of the crime, in both case, must be dealt with an iron hand. But law and the procedure to bring the guilty to the book must be identical. If the Bill, in its present shape, is made the law then the accused in Godhra communal case will be tried under a procedure far more lenient than those who stand trial for what happened in the aftermath, because they belong to the majority community. Meaning thereby that for the trial of cases of identical nature two different sets of laws will apply . Well , one can’t be sure whether this classification will stand the scrutiny at the highest judicial level; but surely, it is a recipe for further aggravation of the communal atmosphere in the country and acceleration of sectarian polarization. It is wrong on the part of any Government to presume that rogue elements live in only one community . State must always be impartial in dealing with its subjects.
Another aspect of the Bill that must be noticed is its concept of National Authority. The National Authority provided for will receive complaints and is authorised to act accordingly. So it is made almost a super state, with officers sending same report to it that they have to send to the Ministry Of Home Affairs. This move will seriously impinge upon the authority of the State Governments and, therefore, constitutes an assault on the federal character of the country. People are beginning to ask questions Why this haste? Has it anything to do with coming Parliamentary elections where many inconvenient questions will be asked to the incumbent Government at the Centre. Given the attitude of not only of the main opposition party in the Parliament and of even so called “secular parties”, there are least chances that the Bill will go through. But the incumbent Government will hardly get perturbed. Due to the constraints of space, the other inconsistencies and the flaws in the Bill could not be discussed here.
Communal scourge has, indeed, proved disastrous for the country. It has to curbed. But how? The proposed Bill is no answer. We have to find one. Rajya Sabha member Justice (retd) Rama Jois has proposed one solution, through his private members Bill in the Rajya Shaba . He says the G O I should constitute, by law, a National Reconciliation Adalat to bring about amicable settlement of the disputes between the Hindus and Muslims of the country, to have a communal riot free India.
According to him the pendency of some issues between the communities is like a festering sore which occasionally erupts in a flare up. One cannot be sure how effective the remedy would be but the proposal needs to be debated up on.
We have a Government source telling the media people about the fate of the Bill, ” Even if it fails it will show case our commitment towards secular politics and position on communal violence. “Keep on posturing ; who bothers for the real action and the principle.
(The author is former Pr, District& Sessions Judge )
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