NATIONAL CONSULTATION

ON

The Communal Violence (Prevention, Control & Rehabilitation of Victims) Bill, 2005

June 16, 2007, New Delhi

The completion of three years of the UPA Government is an opportune moment to take stock of what the Government has achieved in terms of justice for communal crimes. The demand for a law on communal violence emerged from a brutal record of recurring violence in our country, the increasing occurrence of gender-based crimes in communal conflagrations, and complete impunity for mass crimes. The reasons are many - lack of political will to prosecute perpetrators, State complicity in communal crimes, lack of impartial investigation, and lack of sensitivity to victim's experiences. But there is also, crucially, the glaring inadequacy of the law. Today, despite huge strides in international jurisprudence, India continues to lack an adequate domestic legal framework, which would allow survivors of communal violence to seek and to secure justice.

The UPA Government's Common Minimum Programme (CMP) had promised to give the citizens of this country a 'comprehensive legislation' to fill this legal vacuum. We were promised a legislation that would strengthen the hands of the citizens in the struggle against communalism, and allow us to prosecute for mass crimes committed with political complicity and intent. While the country does need a strong law on communal violence, this present Bill is totally misconceived. What we have before us today is a dangerous piece of legislation called the Communal Violence (Prevention, Control & Rehabilitation of Victims) Bill 2005, which will not only fail to secure justice for communal crimes, but will actually strengthen the shield of protection enjoyed by the State, its political leaders and its officials for their acts of omission and commission in these crimes. It is a Bill, which conceives of communal violence as a 'one time' event rather than as a long-term politically motivated process, and seeks to prevent it only by giving greater powers to (often communally tainted) State governments. Further, it continues to perpetuate the silence around gender-based crimes.

It is a travesty that a Bill of such fundamental importance in addressing the challenges posed to the secular character of our society and polity, was drafted by the Government without any real consultative process involving civil society. At this National Consultation on the Communal Violence (Prevention, Control & Rehabilitation of Victims) Bill 2005, we the undersigned, reject this Bill in its entirety. The assumptions of the Bill are so flawed that it cannot be remedied by amending a few components. We therefore reject this Bill and ask the Central Government to forthwith set up a Drafting Committee to formulate an entirely new bill on communal violence, with the active participation of civil society through an open, transparent, and public process. Eminent jurists, civil society activists, academics and legal experts who have engaged on the ground and in court rooms with communal crimes must be part of such a process. A statute which is sincere about addressing gaps in criminal jurisprudence, must base itself on the experiences of victims of communal violence over the last 60 years, the recommendations of various Commissions of Enquiries and international covenants to which India is a signatory.

Endorsed by:

Justice A M Ahmadi, former Chief Justice, Supreme Court

Justice Hosbet Suresh, former Judge, Mumbai High Court

Justice K K Usha, former Chief Justice, Kerala High Court

Justice Rajinder Sachar, former Chief Justice, Delhi High Court

Justice Sardar Ali Khan, former Judge, AP High Court

Professor K.N. Panikker, former VC, Shree Shankaracharya University, Kerala

Nandita Das, Actor

Ghanshyam Shah

Harsh Mander, Social Activist (Aman Biradari)

Professor Rooprekha Verma, former VC Lucknow University

Colin Gonzalves, Supreme Court Advocate, Delhi

Dr. Ram Puniyani, Social Activist, Mumbai

Professor Kamal Mitra Chenoy, JNU, Delhi

Anil Chaudhary, PEACE, Delhi

John Dayal, Senior Journalist & Social Activist, Delhi

V.N. Rai, IPS, Lucknow

K.S. Subramanian, former IPS, Delhi

P.J.G Nampoothiri, former NHRC Spl Rapporteur, Gujarat

Ali Asghar, COVA

Dr. Abdul Salam

Zafar A. Haq, FFCL, Delhi

M. Hilal, FFCL, Delhi

Abid Shah

Uma Chakravarti, Feminist Historian, Delhi University

Hanif Lakdawala, Sanchetna, Gujarat

Prasad Chacko, Action Aid, Gujarat

Kavita Srivastava, Social Activist, Rajasthan

Mehak Sethi, Lawyers Collective, Delhi

Ajay Madiwale, HRLN, Delhi

Avinash Kumar, Oxfam, Gujarat

Ravindra, Lawyers Collective, Delhi

Sophia Khan, Safar, Gujarat

Vrinda Grover, Advocate, Delhi

Usha Ramanathan, Senior Law Researcher, Delhi

Madhu Mehra, Partners for Law in Development, Delhi

Harsh Kapoor, sacw.net, France

Iftikhar Ahmad Khan, Reader, M.S. University of Baroda, Baroda

Dr. Pratixa Baxi, JNU, Delhi

Asad Zaidi, Three Essays Publications

Nalini Taneja, Delhi University

Rohit Prajapati, Baroda

Trupti Shah, Baroda

Zakia Johar, Action Aid, Gujarat

Henri Tiphagne, Executive Director, Peoples' Watch

Niti Saxena, AALI, Lucknow

Saumya Uma, WRAG, Mumbai

Devika Biswas, Sancalp

N.B.Sarojini, SAMA, Delhi

Nandini Sunder, Delhi University

Soma K.P

Harsh Singh Lohit

K.A. Salim

Sharafudheen M.K.

Jahnvi Andharia, Anandi, Gujarat

Nasiruddin, Journalist, Hindustan

Gauhar Raza, Anhad, Delhi

Vineet Tiwari, MP Progressive Writers Association, Indore

Dr. Jaya Mehta, Sandarbh Kendra, Indore

Anjali Shenoy

Indu Prakash Singh, Actionaid India
Kshetrimayum Onil, Amnesty International

Asmita Asawari

Shabnam Hashmi, Anhad, Delhi

Gagan Sethi, Janvikas, Gujarat

Farah Naqvi, Delhi

New Delhi

June 16th, 2007
NATIONAL CONSULTATION ORGANISED BY ANHAD, DELHI

With inputs from Justice Ahmadi, Farah Naqvi and Gagan Sethi (CSJ)