‘Communal Violence Bill will widen rift’

Not happy with the proposed Communal Violence Bill, a Supreme Court lawyer has called for immediate attention to the issue. Alok Kumar, a senior lawyer of the Supreme Court was in the city to share his views about the bill, prepared by the National Advisory Committee.

He was invited by the Bhartiya Vichar Manch to deliver a lecture on the same at the Bhaikaka hall on Saturday.

According to Kumar, the bill will further deepen the rift between minority and majority community and which is why it should be opposed. He questioned the bill for proposing two separate laws for two communities based on their religion.

According to Alok Kumar, there is no need for such a law especially when the country has seen no communal violence since the last 9 years.

"You can't have a law which is parallel to the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and CrPC. After abolition of Pota and Tada, why did the government suddenly feel the need to have such law, when the country has not seen any communal discord for a long time? Why is it that communal violence has become more important than terrorism?" asked Kumar.  

He alleged that the bill is prepared on the hypothesis that state governments, judiciary, bureaucracy and other agencies are against minorities. "The bill also empowers the National Authority of Director General of Police to investigate any case. This directly challenges the state governments and police department" said Alok Kumar.

The proposed law puts the onus on the accused to prove his innocence and if he/she is unable to do so they will be considered guilty, alleged Kumar.

The bill also discriminates between violence against woman during riots and communal clashes, claimed Kumar. "Women of minority community will have a privilege, as the accused will be punished according to the stringent new law, while women of majority community will get justice only through the mild provisions of IPC and CrPC act" said Kumar.