Parliament on Monday passed two important Bills — one to provide constitutional status to the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) and another to provide death penalty to those convicted of raping girls below the age of 12 years.
While the both the Bills were passed in Rajya Sabha, after the lok Sabha nodded it last week, the lok Sabha in the evening unanimously passed a bill on SC/ST Amendment Bill to overcome the Supreme Court verdict quashing the immediate arrest of the accused.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi termed as “historic” the passage of the bill granting constitutional status to the NCBC. “A historic moment for our country! I am glad that Parliament has passed the Constitution (123rd Amendment) Bill, which grants Constitutional status to the National Commission for Backward Classes. This will contribute to the empowerment of the OBC communities across India,” the PM tweeted.
The Government feels it would help people from backward classes fight atrocities against them and ensure quick justice to them. There has been a demand to grant constitutional status to OBC Commission from the 1980s.
Before the passage of NCBC Constitution (123rd Amendment) Bill 2017 several members in the Rajya Sabha urged the Government to make public the findings of the caste census and implement reservation accordingly.
The Rajya Sabha had earlier passed the measure on July 31 last year, along with an amendment and sent it to the lower House. The lok Sabha had passed the bill last week with alternate amendments as well as some more changes unanimously with over two-third majority.
Replying to the debate on the bill, Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Thaawarchand Gehlot said it would help the backward classes people fight atrocities against them and ensure quick justice to them. “This bill would provide justice to the OBC people, it is the need of the hour,” Gehlot said.
Participating in the discussion Bhupender Yadav (BJP) urged political parties to shun “vote politics” and support these measures and charged the Congress of sabotaging the issue earlier and said it had chance to rectify its mistake by ensuring passage of the Bill in the Rajya Sabha.
Chaya Verma (Cong) sought reservation in Parliament and Assemblies for OBCs said creamy layer should be removed. She asked the goverment how it will implement the quota when it was encouraging contractual jobs.
The Criminal law (Amendment) Bill, 2018 too was passed back to back in Rajya Sabha after the house working hours were extended for three hours. The Bill was moved by Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju seeking to amend the criminal law to award death penalty for child rape convicts as passed by lok Sabha last week. The Parliament passed a stringent legislation prescribing death penalty to those convicted of raping girls below the age of 12 years and making the law against such sexual offences harsher.
The Bill replaces the Criminal law (Amendment) Ordinance promulgated on April 21, following an outcry over the rape and murder of a minor girl in Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir and the rape of another woman at Unnao in Uttar Pradesh. The Criminal law (Amendment) Bill 2018, which was passed in the lok Sabha on July 30, was approved by a voice vote in the Upper House.
Rijiju assured the House that the concerns and issues raised by the members would be looked into by the Government, even as he did not agree with the demand of several MPs to send the bill to a Select Committee for scrutiny.
During the debate in lok Sabha on the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Bill, Congress demanded for including it in the Ninth Schedule of Constitution to avoid legal challenges. Participating in the debate Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Choudhury reiterated that the need for insulting this bill by placing under Ninth Schedule.
Replying to the debate, Social Justice & Empowerment Minister Thaawar Chand Gehlot thanked all members for supporting the Bill. He said this bill provides dedicated courts to tackle cases pertaining to the SC/ST Act. The Bill proposes compensation to victims, he said, adding that compensation will be given within seven days of registration of FIR. The bill reinstated the earlier provisions in the bill providing immediate arrest soon after receiving the complaint from SC/ST community. The bill also maintained the provisions of IPC banning the bail provisions.