Pradeep Sharma
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, March 18
The Haryana Assembly today passed the Haryana Recovery of Damages to Property During Disturbance to Public Order Bill, 2021 amid protests by the Congress which termed it as "draconian" and an "attack" on the freedom of expression. The Bill provides for the recovery of damages to property caused by persons during protests and agitations.
The noisy scenes and interruptions by the Congress started the moment Home Minister Anil Vij started to speak on the Bill underling its aims and objectives. He said that the Bill was being brought on public demand and has nothing to do with the ongoing farmers' agitation against three farm laws.
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However, former Speaker Rabhubir Kadian of the Congress alleged that the timing of the Bill during the farmers' agitation raised suspicion about the intentions of the government. "The use of the word instigator in the Bill clearly makes it vindictive in nature," Kadian said and urged the government to withhold it and refer t to the Select Committee.
Leader of the Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda alleged that the Bill had been brought to take away citizens' right of peaceful protests by scaring them. He said that there was already enough provisions in the Indian Penal Code to deal with the damage to property. "The state government first brought a resolution to condemn those who boycott them and now this 'draconian' Bill having sweeping powers to defame innocent citizens has been tabled," said Kiran Chaudhry of Congress and demanded its withdrawal.
Vij said that such theories were a figment of imagination of the Congress legislators."The enactment of the law has been on our mind well before the farmers' agitation. Should we allow people's homes to burn? Are you with the rioters or against them?" he asked.
Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar supported the Home Minister and said the existing provisions in the IPC pertained to fixing criminal liability but this law only ensured the fixing of civil liability.
Even as the Bill was being passed by a voice vote, the Congress legislators marched into the well of the House and staged a noisy protest waving copies of the Bill.
Similar to laws in Uttar Pradesh, the Bill provides for the recovery of damages to property caused by people during agitations, including riots and violent disorder, besides the constitution of a claims tribunal.
The Bill reads that the public has taken note of various past and recent instances of mob violence where there was large-scale destruction, burning, looting of public and private property, injury or loss of lives during disturbances to public order by an assembly, lawful or unlawful, including riots and violent disorder, etc., and thereof.
The state government is supposed to take all preventive, remedial measures so that such incidents are not repeated and public order is maintained. To prevent the recurrence of such circumstances, there should be a legal framework to cause deterrence in the minds of the perpetrators of violence, it says.
from The Tribune https://ift.tt/3cRyoc1
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