Harsh Mander _ a Law to End Targeted Violence - Livemint

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Among free Indiarsquos gravest failuresmdashalong with its inability to end hunger

pervasive poverty and discriminationmdashis the continued targeting of people

with violence and arson only because of their faith or caste This periodic

blood-letting mass sexual assault and arson leaves a trail of great suffering

of innocents and repeated assaults against the idea of a pluralist and

humane India

Decades of engagement and study of communal violence in India has

convinced me that no riot can continue beyond a few hours unless state

authorities choose to allow the violence to persist Despite this in Nellie in

1983 Delhi in 1984 Bhagalpur in 1989 Mumbai in 1992-93 Gujarat in

2002 Kandhamal in 2008 and Muzaffarnagar in 2013 state administrations

mostly consented to allow large-scale targeted massacres to unfold For

people in uniform and magistrates to take sides in hate battles is a

profound crime against humanity Yet this still is recognized at best as a

moral failure not a punishable crime

For this reason the centrepiece of the proposed Communal and Targeted

Violence Bill which Parliament may consider this winter session is the

creation of a new crime of ldquodereliction of duty by public officialsrdquo punishable

with up to five yearsrsquo imprisonment Combined with ldquocommand

responsibilityrdquo this makes the senior political or administrative authority who

directs officials not to act or to act with bias criminally culpable

FIRST PUBLISHED THU DEC 19 2013 08 01 PM ISTHOME raquo OPINION

Harsh Mander | A law to end targeted violenceIndia needs a law to check the menace of communal and caste violence The arguments against itare spurious

Harsh Mander

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29

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Chief ministers J Jayalalithaa and Narendra Modi have argued that this

measure will demoralize officers This is equivalent to the argument that

anti-corruption laws will cause official paralysis On the contrary such laws

strengthen and support officers of moral integrity and fairness because

they shield them from illicit political pressures and defend them from

punitive action At the Centre for Equity Studies our studies of many riots

demonstrate empirically that those rare officers who display exemplary

courage by upholding the law with fairness and firmness are routinely

punished whereas biased officers named explicitly in the reports of

commissions of enquiry in almost every case have been rewarded This law

will damage the morale only of officers who choose to ignore their duty

under the law and the Constitution

We also found in virtually every episode of targeted mass violence the

impunity of those who perpetrate hate atrocities because of the institutional

bias of the criminal justice system In the way criminal justice procedures

are framed the victim has virtually no role It is the state which investigates

charge-sheets prosecutes and appeals This is because it is assumed that

the state will always be on the side of the victim and opposed to the

accused But in incidents of targeted violence state institutionsmdashthe police

prosecution and magistracymdashmay actually be hostile to the victim on

communal or caste grounds and support the accused Therefore the

second major pillar of the Bill is protecting victimsrsquo rights during the justice

process allowing her to get copies of police statements adduce her own

evidence independent of the public prosecutor and appeal in the event of

acquittals

The third essential pillar of the Bill prescribes national minimum standards

for relief and rehabilitation In both Gujarat and Muzaffarnagar state

governments refused to institute relief camps gave tightfisted support to

the camps which the victimized community was forced to establish and then

prematurely wound up the camps before the survivors had the confidence

to return home In most riots reparation is grossly inadequate to enable the

survivors to rebuild their broken lives shelters and livelihoods What is

more compensation rates differ widely and are seen as instruments of

selective political largesse rather than the rights of survivors from a caring

and just state

Another charge against the Bill is that it violates the federal structure

because law and order is the exclusive domain of the states However the

constitutional framework does envisage the duty of the Union government

to protect the national integrity which is threatened in times of targeted hate

violence Still responding to the sensitivities of any state the current

revised draft Bill deletes the creation of any overarching central National

Authority charged with ensuring fairness and justice by state governments

in communal situations Instead these duties have been conferred on

existing institutions the National Human Rights Commission and State

Human Rights Commissions The powers of these commissions under the

Bill are no more than what they enjoy todaymdashto observe enquire and

recommend but not to encroach on the authority of state governments

There is reason for people to argue that the timing of the Billmdashnine years

too late and at the eve of a formidably uphill general electionmdashdoes render

the motives behind its belated introduction suspect But I have spent time

with survivors of many episodes of mass communal violence from Nellie

and Tilak Vihar Delhi dating back three decades to the recent survivors of

the carnages in Lower Assam and Muzaffarnagar The enormity of their

sufferingmdashas they struggle even today with unspeakable loss with

permanently broken lives haunted by memories of hate and betrayalmdash

makes it imperative for all parties which claim to be secular to set aside

political competitiveness Let them come together to build consensus for the

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45 PM

WED MAY 07 2014 06

28 PM

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Photo Essay | Windows to theworld

DRAWBRIDGE

MORE FROM THIS SECTION

SLIDESHOW


rescue India passage of a law which could help finally push into history targeted hate

violence

Harsh Mander is a former member of the National Advisory Council

Comments are welcome at theirviewlivemintcom

29 Tweet 12First Published Thu Dec 19 2013 08 01 PM IST

TARGETED VIOLENCE LAWS COMMUNAL AND TARGETED VIOLENCE BILL PARLIAMENT HUMAN RIGHTS

Narendra Modi The making of thepolitical leader

6 comments bull a day ago

abhijit pal mdash shame on the author for

authoring half truthsthis pseudo sicular

breed will soon come to an end and will hellip

Time of return to India impacts tax onoverseas salary

1 comment bull 6 hours ago

Jai K mdash Taking into consideration Visa rules

etc those working abroad for short periods

through the year stand to lose hellip

The killing fields of Assam and a modernday Nero


Secular mdash Why are you giving so much

attention to this BJP was not ruling Assam

There is no way we can blame hellip

Congress debating idea of lsquoenlargedrsquoUPA 3 to stop Narendra Modi


Sachi Mohanty mdash I am all for sickular

parties coming together to form a

government with a non-Rahul PMP

ALSO ON LIVEMINT

2 Comments Livemint Login

Sort by Newest Share

Join the discussionhellip

bull Reply bull

Praveen PP bull 5 months ago

The very nature of the proposed Bill is Divide and Rule followed by the Colonial British under

section 153A of IPC 1860 Note that the dates in History when Clive defeated Siraj Daula at

the battle of Plassey in 1757 and year 1857 a full century later the First Indian Independence

Movement (Sepoy Mutiny as the British would have us to call it) There is only 3 years in the

making for the IPC 1860

The Targeted Communal Violence Bill Nine years in the making Read them together A

country known for its peaceful and dharmic way of life is being ransacked by the Mlechas of

the Desert Is there no end to it

bull Reply bull

Shekar bull 5 months ago

Thank you Mr Mander - for bringing some details of the proposed Bill to the knowledge of the

public - in an easy to understand form Let us hope your wish will be fulfilled by those

charged with representing us in Parliament

Our democracy is in danger of losing its way into a simplistic majoritarianism - in all manner

of things We need a suitable Bill to address this problem

WHATS THIS

Subscribe Add Disqus to your site

Favorite

Share rsaquo

Share rsaquo

Sensex ends lower on

profit-booking

Will this be Narendra

Modirsquos PMO team

Exit polls Keep a pinch of

salt handy

More from OnlineViews

Narendra Modi needs to

upgrade to 20

Confronting coal

Indian Economy

Sentiment Vs Reality

Indians expect Narendra

Modi to be an economic

Superman

The Economist who can

Chief ministers J Jayalalithaa and Narendra Modi have argued that this

measure will demoralize officers This is equivalent to the argument that

anti-corruption laws will cause official paralysis On the contrary such laws

strengthen and support officers of moral integrity and fairness because

they shield them from illicit political pressures and defend them from

punitive action At the Centre for Equity Studies our studies of many riots

demonstrate empirically that those rare officers who display exemplary

courage by upholding the law with fairness and firmness are routinely

punished whereas biased officers named explicitly in the reports of

commissions of enquiry in almost every case have been rewarded This law

will damage the morale only of officers who choose to ignore their duty

under the law and the Constitution

We also found in virtually every episode of targeted mass violence the

impunity of those who perpetrate hate atrocities because of the institutional

bias of the criminal justice system In the way criminal justice procedures

are framed the victim has virtually no role It is the state which investigates

charge-sheets prosecutes and appeals This is because it is assumed that

the state will always be on the side of the victim and opposed to the

accused But in incidents of targeted violence state institutionsmdashthe police

prosecution and magistracymdashmay actually be hostile to the victim on

communal or caste grounds and support the accused Therefore the

second major pillar of the Bill is protecting victimsrsquo rights during the justice

process allowing her to get copies of police statements adduce her own

evidence independent of the public prosecutor and appeal in the event of

acquittals

The third essential pillar of the Bill prescribes national minimum standards

for relief and rehabilitation In both Gujarat and Muzaffarnagar state

governments refused to institute relief camps gave tightfisted support to

the camps which the victimized community was forced to establish and then

prematurely wound up the camps before the survivors had the confidence

to return home In most riots reparation is grossly inadequate to enable the

survivors to rebuild their broken lives shelters and livelihoods What is

more compensation rates differ widely and are seen as instruments of

selective political largesse rather than the rights of survivors from a caring

and just state

Another charge against the Bill is that it violates the federal structure

because law and order is the exclusive domain of the states However the

constitutional framework does envisage the duty of the Union government

to protect the national integrity which is threatened in times of targeted hate

violence Still responding to the sensitivities of any state the current

revised draft Bill deletes the creation of any overarching central National

Authority charged with ensuring fairness and justice by state governments

in communal situations Instead these duties have been conferred on

existing institutions the National Human Rights Commission and State

Human Rights Commissions The powers of these commissions under the

Bill are no more than what they enjoy todaymdashto observe enquire and

recommend but not to encroach on the authority of state governments

There is reason for people to argue that the timing of the Billmdashnine years

too late and at the eve of a formidably uphill general electionmdashdoes render

the motives behind its belated introduction suspect But I have spent time

with survivors of many episodes of mass communal violence from Nellie

and Tilak Vihar Delhi dating back three decades to the recent survivors of

the carnages in Lower Assam and Muzaffarnagar The enormity of their

sufferingmdashas they struggle even today with unspeakable loss with

permanently broken lives haunted by memories of hate and betrayalmdash

makes it imperative for all parties which claim to be secular to set aside

political competitiveness Let them come together to build consensus for the

WED MAY 14 2014 05

45 PM

WED MAY 07 2014 06

28 PM

WED MAY 14 2014 03 30 PM

The many faces of Indiarsquos LokSabha polls

WED MAY 14 2014 02 18 PM

Tragedy in Turkish coal mine

MON MAY 12 2014 02 12 PM

Manchester City wins secondEnglish Premier League title inthree years

SAT MAY 10 2014 12 03 AM

Photo Essay | Windows to theworld

DRAWBRIDGE


SLIDESHOW



violence

























ALSO ON LIVEMINT




bull Reply bull










bull Reply bull







WHATS THIS


Favorite

Share rsaquo

Share rsaquo


violence

























ALSO ON LIVEMINT




bull Reply bull










bull Reply bull







WHATS THIS


Favorite

Share rsaquo

Share rsaquo

Harsh Mander _ a Law to End Targeted Violence - Livemint

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Transcript of Harsh Mander _ a Law to End Targeted Violence - Livemint