By TCN Staff Reporter,
Mumbai: Slowly but surely, it seems, the efforts to stop the proposed Communal Violence Bill -2009 in its present form, is a taking shape of a movement. In a move, Maharashtra based Movement for Peace & Justice (MPJ) and Association for Protection of Civil Rights (APCR) along with various other civil rights and minorities’ groups is organizing a public meeting on Communal Violence Bill: A Remedy worse than the Malady. The meeting is scheduled on 26th March 2010 at Our Lady of Victories School Hall, Next to Sitla Devi Temple, Lady Jamshedji Road, Mahim, Mumbai 6:30 pm onwards.
Organisers, in a press release said, “We are left with no choice but to take this issue to the masses who have voted a Secular government in the Centre with a hope to witness a country free of communal hatred, to the victims who are yet to get justice even after decades of despair and watching the perpetrators enjoying complete impunity”.
The groups further said, “We, as concerned citizens, endorse the need for a law on the issue.
However, we are convinced that this Communal Violence Bill 2009, if passed, will not only be weak but also dangerous. It will not only fail to secure justice for communal crimes, make the victims and minorities more vulnerable during communal conflagrations but will actually strengthen the shield of protection enjoyed by those who plan and sponsor these crimes,including public officials. Citizens groups for the last 5 years have highlighted the various flaws in the bill and had suggested amendments. But the basic flaws still exists in the version 2009 of the CVP Bill”.
The meeting will be addressed by Justice Hosbet Suresh (Retired Judge-Bombay High Court)Teesta Setalvad (Citizens for Justice and Peace), Prakash Ambedkar (Bhartiya Republican Party-Bahujan Mahasangh),Maulana Hafiz Athar Ali (All India Ulema Association), Adv Saumya Uma (Human Rights Activist), Mohammed Siraj (Movement for Peace and Justice), Dolphy Dsouza (Bombay Catholic Sabha) and presided by Supreme Court Lawyer and APCR’s National President, Yusuf Hatim Muchhala.