The Economic and Political Weekly, VOL 46 No. 31 July 30 - August 05, 2011
The Communal and Targeted Violence Bill
by Mihir Desai
The Indian Penal Code and the various police acts give the executive and the police ample powers to deal with communal violence. Failure to implement these laws is one of the major problems confronting the prevention of communal violence. However, there are a number of connected issues which the present laws are powerless to deal with – like responsibility pertaining to the public servant in control of armed or security forces who fails to exercise control over his/her subordinates, witness protection, reparations, and a regular machinery to pay compensation. The National Advisory Council’s draft anti-communal violence bill takes these shortcomings into account. However, it too suffers from certain lacunae which need to be addressed.
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