Inadequate, Counter-productive and Unacceptable Muslim Leaders Call upon Govt. to Revise It
Muslim community leaders representing the various Muslim organisations and institutions of national eminence, on March 1 assembled in Delhi, to consider in depth the draft Communal Violence (Prevention, Control and Rehabilitation of Victims) Bill, 2009, in the light of the original Bill of 2005, the proceedings of the National Seminar organised by the National Commission for Minorities and the subsequent meeting of the National Integration Council and innumerable statements issued by the civil society, in general and the Muslim community, in particular, as well as the 59 amendments which are said to have been incorporated in the new draft by the Government, Syed Shahabuddin, Convener Joint Committee of Muslim Organisations for Empowerment (JCMOE) said in a Joint Statement on March 5.
They concluded that the Bill of 2009 is no better than the original bill and the amendments have only given a superficial cosmetic touch to the original Bill without changing its basic concept or structure or objective and that the Bill of 2009 does not serve the basic purpose i.e., anticipation, prevention and control of communal violence, effectively and promptly, provision of adequate relief and rehabilitation measures to the survivors and due compensation to the next-of-kin for the loss of life, honour and property and identification of and punishment to the culprits, as well as those in the law and order machinery which acted as spectators and colluded with the rioters.
The Muslim leaders strongly felt that the Bill of 2009 does not make police or administration or state authorities accountable and provide for timely and effective intervention by the National Human Rights Commission, if the communal violence spreads or continues for weeks, or by the Central Government under Articles 355 and 356 of the Constitution, duly modified.
On the other hand, ironically, they believe, the Bill grants more power to the local police and administration which, more often than not acts in league with the rioters by declaring the area as ‘communally disturbed area’.
The Muslim leaders strongly urged the Government to first define ‘communal violence’ in a comprehensive manner which includes sex-based crimes and religiously targeted murder, destruction and looting and thus it needs to be differentiated from the ordinary crimes under the IPC. They felt that the Bill should in fact propose special penalties, apart from the penalties available under the IPC, including disqualification for public life, expulsion from professional bodies and forfeiture of property.
They called upon the Government to provide for prompt registration of communal crimes, their urgent investigation by special agencies and prosecution of identified culprits, including policemen, administrators and politicians, in Special Courts with Special Prosecutors, who are acceptable to the victims and in such cases the provision of prior sanction of the government should not apply to such culprits.
They also demanded a uniform scale of compensation for the whole country, irrespective of religion of the victims or the culprits or the venue of communal violence, for loss of life, honour and property and as well as destruction of and damage to religious places with the provision to revise the scale every 10 years and assessment of losses and damage by a Special Commissioner from outside the state occurrence.
The Muslim leaders also called upon the government that the relief camps should not be wound up arbitrarily, unless and until all victims are in a position to return to their places of origin and resume their normal life in security and dignity.
They, for the reasons mentioned above, do not find the Bill of 2009 acceptable and request the Government not to introduce it in a hurry without consulting the representatives and leaders of the civil society, particularly the communities which are generally targeted and to revise the Bill in the light of their suggestions and observations.
They also request all secular forces, the civil society and the political parties represented in the Parliament to press the Government to revise the Bill before introduction in order to remove the inadequacies, defects and flaws which have been pointed out and objected to by the targeted communities, in order to assure them of absolute Equality before Law and guarantee their Security and Dignity.
The signatories to the Joint Statement include Mr. Saiyid Hamid, Chancellor, Jamia Hamdard; Maulana Syed Jalaluddin Umari, Amir, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind; Maulana Arshad Madani, President, Jamiat Ulama-e- Hind; Dr. Md. Manzoor Alam, General Secretary, All India Milli Council; Mr. Syed Shahabuddin, former President, All India Muslim Majlis-e- Mushawarat; Maulana Asghar Ali Imam Mehdi Salfi, Secretary General, Markazi Jamiat Ahle Hadis; Mr. Zafar Saifullah, IAS (Retd.) former Cabinet Secretary, Govt. of India; Dr. Syed Tahir Mahmood, former Member of Law Commission of India; Mr. Asaduddin Owaisi, MP; Dr. Zafarul Islam Khan, Editor Milli Gazette; Maulana Mohd. Jafar, Naib Amir, JIH; Dr. Mufti Mukarram Ahmad, Shahi Imam, Masjid Fatehpuri; Mr. Suhail K.K., President, Student Islamic Organisation of India; Maulana Ejaz Ahmed Aslam, Editor, Radiance Weekly; Mr. Parwaz Rahmani, Chief Editor, Dawat Urdu Seh Roza; Dr. M.H. Jawahirullah, President, TMMK; and others.