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Civil society activists seek new Communal Violence Bill-Mohammad Ali

Seven months after the National Integration Council (NIC) meeting in September “discussed and dumped” the National Advisory Council (NAC)-drafted ‘Prevention of Communal and Targeted Violence (Access to Justice and Reparation) Bill, civil society activists from across the country representing more than 50 organisations came together to pronounce the Bill as “dead.”

They also demanded that the Union government come up with a new draft of the Bill focused on “making public servants accountable and criminally liable for the acts of omission or commission in relation to their duties” during any communal and targeted violence.

At a day-long national consultation on the Communal Violence Bill which was attended by Justice Rajinder Sachar, Shabnam Hashmi of Anhad, legal experts and activists Usha Ramanathan and Vrinda Grover, Zakia Soman of Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan, John Dayal of the All India Christian Council, Niaz Farooqui of Jamiat-Ulema Hind, a new draft briefly outlining the essential features they wanted was proposed.

Ms. Shabnam Hashmi, Ms. Usha Ramanathan and Ms. Vrinda Grover were part of the drafting process of the NAC Bill but had either resigned or distanced themselves from the Bill at the later stages.

When The Hindu contacted Farah Naqvi, who heads the working group which prepared the draft of the Bill, she expressed her “very deep disappointment” at the way the government treated the Bill at the NIC meeting but refused to comment on the development.

Citing practical reasons of “political consensus,” the two controversial elements of the NAC draft, namely the definition of “group” and the proposal for the establishment of a National Authority, which goes against the federal principles of the Constitution, have been done away with in the outline of the new draft proposed.

The NAC draft defined “group” as “religious or linguistic minority or the Scheduled Caste or the Scheduled Tribe.” This triggered accusations from the BJP and right-wing Hindu groups that it was “anti-Hindu.”

Ms. Ramanathan said the definition of “group” was made “irrelevant” in the new initiative, adding that there should not be any kind of discrimination against the victims of communal and targeted violence.

Ms. Grover argued that “we have come here to offer an alternative view of looking at the Bill which will be best equipped to prevent communal and targeted violence and on which there can be political consensus as well.”

The activists favoured “providing reparative justice to the victims and survivors of communal and targeted violence” including “victim protection and rescue, relief camps, protection of property, compensation, restitution and right of return.”

The outline mentions that “the inordinate impact of communal and targeted violence on women and children must be recognised in the making of the law.”

Sexual violence, torture

“Crimes of sexual violence, torture and enforced disappearance should be introduced in the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and special laws such as the Prevention of Torture Bill should be introduced at the earliest,” the outline issued by the activists said.