The Communal Violence (Prevention, Control and Rehabilitation of Victims) Bill, 2010, has been redrafted to empower victims of communal violence to “have rights relating to having access to information of proceedings and legal documents and to participate and to be heard at all stages of registration, investigation and trial” of cases.
The latest version of the Bill provides for greater role of the central government in checking communal violence in states; stricter punishment for those responsible for outbreak or spread of communal violence as well as for government servants who either support those responsible for the violence or fail to discharge their duty effectively, when there is an outbreak of communal violence.
The Bill was redrafted after the intervention of UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, who wanted more stringent clauses. The Bill was first drafted in 2005.
The Cabinet will have to clear 80 amendments to the earlier version of the Bill before it is introduced in Parliament, in the monsoon session.
The redrafted Bill incorporates the following provisions:
- An officer, who is authorised to prevent and/or control communal violence, will be punished with imprisonment up to three years plus fine, if he or she exercises the authority in a mala fide manner, or refrains from using the authority vested in him or her.
- A public servant who is found guilty of having indulging or supporting communal violence will be punished with a prison term of not less than three years.
- If fair trial in cases of communal violence is not possible in the area where the incident has taken place, the government will be entitled to request the high court to transfer the trial to another “judicial zone” of that state.
- The onus of constituting a unified command, which will deal with communal violence in states, will be on the Centre. The earlier version of the Bill empowered both the Centre and the respective state government to set up the unified command.
- It will be mandatory for the state government to declare any area “communally disturbed area” and constitute such an area into a single judicial zone or zones if it is of the opinion that communal violence has gripped that area.
- Every state government will have to establish a State Communal Disturbance Relief and Rehabilitation Council, which will be headed by the state home minister.
- Of the five members of different religions who will be nominated by the state government to the Council, one will compulsorily be a woman.
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