Christians for modifications in communal violence bill

New Delhi, Oct 24 (PTI) With a bill on the anvil for more
effective measures to check communal violence, prominent
members of the Christian community Saturday sought changes in
its draft, including a provision that the state will bring out
a document on causes of any riot and actions taken to check
it.

The demands were made during a consultation programme on
"Communal Harmony with Special Reference to Communal Violence
(Prevention, Control and Rehabilitation of Victims) Bill".
Supreme Court of India judge Cyric Joseph, Chairman of
National Minority Commission Md Shafi Qureshi, former Law
Minister and senior advocate Shanti Bhushan and Congress party
leader and former Indian minister Oscar Fernandes took part in
the programme.
The demands included publication of a white paper by the
state after any incident of communal violence, giving the
causes of why it broke out, details of action taken for
controlling it, and involvement of public servants, political
parties and organisations if any within a period of 60 days
after declaring an area as disturbed.
They also sought provisions like a minimum punishment for
all, including public servants, if any 'schedule offence' is
committed in a disturbed area, showing more seriousness on the
issue of victimisation of women during communal riots and
appointment of judicial officers instead of administrative
officers to probe incidents of communal violence. MORE PTI AMR
ANU


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