Despite stiff opposition by the BJP, the Government has decided to table the controversial Communal Violence Prevention Bill in Parliament on Tuesday. The Union Cabinet on Monday cleared the Bill, which has been stripped of some of it controversial provisions in the face of objections by the BJP and some State Governments.
Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said the ‘Prevention of Communal and Targeted Violence (Access to Justice and Reparations) Bill, 2013, was approved by the Cabinet meeting chaired by PM Manmohan Singh and “We will try to table the Bill in Parliament tomorrow.”The original Bill had provision that the onus of riots would be on the majority community.
However, after protest by the BJP and some other parties, this provision was amended. The Bill has now been made neutral between all groups or communities.
The powers of intervention of the Centre in the event of riots have also been diluted in the revised Bill as a result of which the Union Government will not have any perceived overriding powers anywhere.
The fresh draft says, “If the State Government is of the opinion that assistance of the Central Government is required for controlling the communal violence, it may seek the assistance of the Central Government to deploy armed forces of the Union for such purposes...”
Earlier, the Centre was given unilateral powers to send central paramilitary forces during the outbreak of communal violence without consulting the State Government. The amendments were carried out in the wake of criticism by BJP besides West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa.
The Bill, which was kept on the backburner for years, has been taken out by the Government with six months to the lok Sabha polls. This has invited criticism that the UPA was desperate to polarise the voters on communal lines.