‘No opposition yet to law on communal violence’

Home Minister Shivraj Patil has said there has been no opposition from any quarter to the proposed law on communal violence so far, and that...

Home Minister Shivraj Patil has said there has been no opposition from any quarter to the proposed law on communal violence so far, and that the approach paper and draft bill will be put on the Internet for public response soon.

Speaking to The Indian Express, the minister said, ‘‘We do not want to have a law which is half-baked, or which will require amendment in one year’s time. We want to have a law which will remain on the statute books for 50 years. All aspects of communal harmony will be dealt with carefully since the law will deal with the rights of a billion people.’’

Patil said, after the draft Bill and approach paper were put on the Internet, the Ministry of Home Affairs would elicit public responses and hold seminars on the new legislation in all parts of the country.

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After gauging public mood, further amendments in the draft Bill may be made. Following this, the amended draft will again be routed to the Ministry of Law. The Bill could be introduced in Parliament by the Budget session, he said.

On important aspects of the law, Patil said, ‘‘We will define what communal violence is, and who will investigate incidents of communal violence and rioting.

	‘No problem in talking about autonomy’

			• NEW DELHI: Home Minister Shivraj Patil said that during his visit to Kashmir, some people told him while he was willing to talk to those wanting to separate from the country, he was unwilling to talk to those who wanted to talk about autonomy. Patil said he told them there was no problem in discussing autonomy. ‘‘Who says we’re not ready to discuss autonomy?’’

Besides this, there will be sections on what kind of punishment will be meted out and the kind of assistance and protection to be given to witnesses.’’

He added that the drafting of the new law was one of the most important policies framed by his Ministry and that such a law, as was being drafted, would have helped immensely at the time of communal conflagrations such as the Godhra incidents.

Ritu Sarin

Ritu Sarin is Executive Editor (News and Investigations) at The Indian Express group. Her areas of specialisation include internal security, money laundering and corruption. Sarin is one of India’s most renowned reporters and has a career in journalism of over four decades. She is a member of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) since 1999 and since early 2023, a member of its Board of Directors. She has also been a founder member of the ICIJ Network Committee (INC). She has, to begin with, alone, and later led teams which have worked on ICIJ’s Offshore Leaks, Swiss Leaks, the Pulitzer Prize winning Panama Papers, Paradise Papers, Implant Files, Fincen Files, Pandora Papers, the Uber Files and Deforestation Inc. She has conducted investigative journalism workshops and addressed investigative journalism conferences with a specialisation on collaborative journalism in several countries. ... Read More

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