Table communal violence bill in winter session: NAC members

Members of the National Advisory Council on Friday demanded tabling of the Prevention of Communal and Targeted Violence bill in the winter session of Parliament.

NAC members Farah Naqvi and Harsh Mander told a meeting on Friday that "if the UPA is sincere, they should do it now. Today, the ball is firmly in their (government) court."

The Prevention of Communal and Targeted Violence(Access to Justice and Reparations) Bill, 2001, has been submitted by NAC to the government which has not yet acted on it in the wake of opposition to the draft provisions by political parties like BJP.

The draft law intends to prevent and control targeted violence against the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes and religious and linguistic minorities.

Harsh Mander said that not only the leadership but the executive too has "failed" to give equal justice under the existing law to minorities and it is necessary to pass the new law.

He said "as long as the accused are Muslims, flimsy allegations are enough to keep them in jail but when the accused is a Hindu, then you need the highest standard of investigation and proof".

Former high court judge Hospet Suresh, questioning the delay over tabling of the bill asked "should we go on fast like Anna Hazare and demand that the government should table the bill in Parliament"? "We are still debating this when it should have been passed (in the parliament ) by now", he said.