The redrafted Communal Violence Bill (Prevention, Control and Rehabilitation of Victims) 2010, likely to be introduced in the monsoon session of Parliament, has stringent clauses to punish officials who harbour mala fide intentions of supporting or engaging in communal violence. The new version of the Bill, which was first drafted in 2005 in the wake of Gujarat riots, has given the Union Government the authority to intervene in a communal situation without the concurrence of the respective State Government.
The current draft of the Bill provides for declaration of a "disturbed area" and civil society groups have opposed it, citing the imposition of Armed Forces Special Powers Act. The question of who in the bureaucratic or political chain should be held responsible and penalised for failure to maintain communal harmony has also dogged the Bill for a while.
Compared to other South Asian countries, Indian citizens enjoy better communal harmony and are ruled by less draconian laws in the pattern of the US's Homeland Security Act. Introducing such a Bill at a time when India's economic growth is steady will project India as a communally sensitive nation before the international community. India's experience of communal violence is limited to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, post-Godhra riots, Babri Masjid violence, violence after Mumbai blasts and clashes in Kashmir that triggered the migration of four lakh Kashmiri Pandits but the scale of communal violence in Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and parts of China is far larger. Yet Governments in these countries have never drafted such a law or Bill.
Tabling this Bill will, therefore, undoubtedly affect India's global image and hurt its vibrant economic growth statistics in many sectors. It would also invite unnecessary foreign interference. The best option is to effectively implement existing laws and statutes to pre-empt any clashes as well as censor and shun hate speech in any form emanating from the mouth of any religious or political leader. There is also need of a uniform civil code and a strict adherence by all Governments at the States and the Centre to a policy of justice to all and appeasement to none.
