The draft Prevention of Communal and Targeted Violence (Access to Justice and Reparations) Bill also seeks to hold public officials accountable for failure of command responsibility which has been made an offence.
A meeting of the NAC, presided by the chairperson Sonia Gandhi, has decided to put the draft bill in public domain to invite comments which could be considered at the next meeting on May 25.
Mass violence that is widespread or systematic in nature has been defined specifically in the draft bill as ‘organised’ communal and targeted violence. The Bill seeks to strengthen the rights of the victim through a series of new provisions beginning from the simple right to information at all stages. It also includes the rights to get copies of all their statements; to be heard in a court of law; to adduce evidence; to protection; to appeal; and to file a complaint with the National Authority/State Authority if and when they are aggrieved by failure of the system to protect and secure for them justice and reparations.
The Bill casts legal duties on the State to provide rescue, relief, rehabilitation, compensation and restitution, to ensure that victims are restored to a situation better than which prevailed before they were affected by targeted violence.
The NAC observed that a major obstacle in prosecuting public servants is the provision for getting sanction under Section 196 and 197 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.
“The Bill provides that if such sanction is not granted by the state within a period of 30 days from the date of application to the state government, sanction to prosecute will be deemed to be granted,” said an NAC member.
The linguistic minorities in the Bill were included in the backdrop of the attacks on people Hindi belts in parts of Mumbai by Thackeray’s parivar. The Bill casts legal duties on the State to provide rescue, relief, rehabilitation, compensation and restitution, to ensure that victims are restored to a situation better than which prevailed before they were affected by targeted violence.