By IANS,
New Delhi : As the government prepares to table in parliament a bill to check communal violence, political parties Friday reacted cautiously to the development, saying they want to study the new legislation, which was originally drafted in 2005.
“We have not seen the bill. Let the draft come to us… We will study it and spell our strategy accordingly,” Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Lok Sabha member Syed Shahnawaz Hussain told IANS.
The union cabinet Thursday cleared the re-drafted Communal Violence (Prevention, Control and Rehabilitation of Victims) Bill for introduction in parliament.
The cabinet decision comes a week after the government tabled the Action Taken Report (ATR) on the Liberhan Commission report on the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition. The ATR had promised that the government will bring the bill soon.
A controversial clause in the legislation allows the central government to declare an area in a state as “communally disturbed”, giving it a leeway to put a state government under a scanner.
Another clause stipulates three years’ imprisonment for violation of section 144 of the Criminal Proceedure Code – illegal assembly of more than five persons at a time and at a place – in a communally disturbed area.
The parliamentary Standing Committee, scrutinising the bill, had raised certain queries stalling the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government’s plan to introduce the legislation in 2005.
A section which empowers the central government to send forces to communally disturbed areas was the bone of contention. Almost all political parties, including the Left, had expressed reservation about this provision.
Hussain said the BJP will oppose any move that aims at intruding into the states’ domain.
“Law and order is a state subject. It should be left with the state government to deal with. Communal violence should be stopped but without interfering in states’ affairs,” he said.
Left parties are also waiting to read the draft before drawing up their policy response on whether or not to oppose the bill.
“Let them table it. The cabinet, I am told, has cleared it. As of now, my party won’t be able to comment as we have not read the new draft,” Communist Party of India (CPI) Rajya Sabha member D. Raja told IANS.
He said the bill is not new but the Left parties would study if the government has accepted the recommendations of the standing committee over some controversial clauses.
“It is not a new bill. Let’s see what they have accepted and rejected. We had raised our dissent over some controversial clauses. We have to see if our reservations have been accommodated,” Raja said.