Muslims and Police

FIVE years after the framing of the Communal Violence Bill, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board at its 21st annual convention held in Lucknow on March 21 has come out with a declaration demanding scrapping of the bill on the plea that it "would in effect curb the civic rights of the minorities" as unbridled authority has been granted to the police and administrative officers.

The ulema, scholars and members of the civil society attending the convention held the view that it would result in misery to the Muslim community which has always suffered at the hands of police during riots. The Board has a point, but it would be wrong to paint all the police and paramilitary forces of India with the same black brush. India needs a strong mechanism to put a check on the communal violence and curb terrorist activities which threaten the unity and integrity of the country. The Board should have in fact pointed to the fact that at present there are various laws relating to communal violence; Indian Penal Code, Code of Criminal Procedure, Police Acts, Arms Act, other minor Criminal Acts, Atrocities Act about dalits and adivasis, etc. Why have these laws not proved to be effective? What is the guarantee that the new law would prove to be effective? In fact the Atrocities Act is similar to the proposed law. The best solution for checking communal violence is the pre-emptive and preventive measure before time. The government should create independent intelligence agency, take steps to stop misinformation on trivial incidents and check and control hate-speeches and propaganda.