Prevention
Statutory Community Relations Commission (CRC) entrusted with the responsibility of study, monitoring, prediction, and peaceful resolution of inter-group conflicts, having powers to initiate legal proceedings against mediapersons and leaders u/s 153A, 295 and 505 etc ...
Mohalla and District Peace Committees to function under the supervision of CRC.
Special Intelligence Units (SIU) at national and state levels for collection of intelligence related to communal disputes (with) adequate representation of minorities and weaker sections and to be specially trained ...
Enactment of ... Political Activities (Regulation) Act prohibiting political activities based on seeking dominance of any religion or culture.
Right to take out procession to be strictly regulated and restricted.
The Press Council to have powers to initiate legal proctedings against papers responsible for aggravating communal situation leading to violence.
The NCERT and the UGC to have Standing Committees to review all teaching-reading material from primary to undergraduate levels to remove communal prejudices.
Control
Statutory State Security-cum-Administration Commission (SAC) for i) laying down policies ii) periodic review of administrative and police performance iii) controlling appointment, posting, promotion, transfer, suspension etc. Of senior officials.
Statutory district-level watchdog bodies to ensure transparency and accountability in the functioning of the administration and the police.
DM and SP to be held responsible for failure to prevent and stop riots. Service rules to be amended providing for disciplinary action against erring officials for serious dereliction of duty.
Inquiry Commissions (IC) to be appointed by the SAC in the event of casualties being 3 to 20 and by the panel of Chairmen of NHRC, NCM and SAC when casualties exceed 20. The IC to fix official responsibility for failure and to determine the loss of life and destruction of property and the amount and kind of compensation to be paid to sufferers of riots.
The governments not to reject the findings and recommendations of the IC.
Training of police officers and men and other law-enforcement personnel inhuman rights, with a special course on removing prejudices and negative stereotypes; periodic training of police officers for riot control.
Police and other agencies involved in law-enforcement to have 25% representation of minorities.
Use of firearms for mob control by the police not to be encouraged especially at the initial stage for deterrence.
Prosecution
Apart from constituting Special Investigation Squads, Special Prosecutors and Special Courts for trial of riot related cases, special trial procedures to be provided ...
Compensation
All those killed in riots after 1984 in any part of the country to be paid uniform compensation of Rs.2 lakhs with interest according to the Delhi High Court judgement of 5 July, 1996.
A Central law on riots to provide for, among others, restitution and payment of compensation to all victims of riots for loss of life, property and injuries during riots.
Teesta Setalvad On Bajrang Dal's Anti-Muslim Campaign
Bajrang Dal launches fresh anti-Muslim campaign in Mumbai.
In what seemed like the launching of yet another hate campaign, at a public meeting in Mumbai on February 21, the Maharashtra unit of the Bajrang Dal issued a call to arms, exhorting the 5,000-strong crowd "to lay hand on weapons", to for the "killers of cows" and "drink the blood of sinners".
(For it) the fact that the Muslim festival of 'Bakri Eid' and the Mahavir Jayanti for Jains fall on the same day March 29 - is obviously an opportune coincidence. "See to it that a not a single animal is slaughtered on Ahimsa Day (March 29)", was the war cry sounded.
"Main to kahta hoon, sala Mussalman gaddar hai", thundered one of the speakers ... A civic issue that has acquired communal overtones in recent years - the use of loudspeakers in mosques for calling the azaan - was also raked up. A deadline of May 15 was set for Muslims to pull down loud-speakers from all mosques, failing which the Bajrang Dal threatened to take matters in its hands.
As reported by newspersons ... the next day, the statements, threats, slogans and exhortations at the meeting included the following:
*Cut off the heads of those who kill cows.
*Halt trucks carrying cattle for Bakri Eid and teach the truck drivers a lesson!
*Come out on the streets and show your strength. If they show knives, you show swords.
*Hindus are compared to cows. But once the cow charges with horns, nobody can stop her.
*Drink the blood of sinners.
*It's time to lay your hands on weapons.
*Let Salman Rushdie come to India, 75 crore Hindus will protect him.
*Ours is not a Ganga-Jamuna culture. When the Jamuna meets the Ganga, it become the Ganga. So also the mainstream in Bharat is Hindutva and everyone has to accept it.
*Until Hindus react, no one will listen to us.
'Ayodhya to sirf jhanki hai, Mathura Kashi baki hai'
Such remarks made at a public meeting, are clearly violative of sections 153a and 153b of the IPC, which relate to "incitement of hatred and violence against certain sections on the basis of religion". In other words, they are criminal offences punishable by law. However, inquiries made by Communalism Combat with the Azad Maidan police station and senior police officials indicated that, even three weeks after such blatant incitement, the Mumbai police. had failed to initiate any penal action against the Bajrang Dal leaders ..
Political observers are also raising questions whether it is a matter of design that ... the Bajrang Dal and not the Shiv Sena has been chosen to flag the saffron ... campaign ... Is this yet another strategy of Hindutva to allow outfits like the VHP-Bajrang Dal to whip up public sentiments, the political fallout of which could later be harvested by the SS-BJP coalition? (Source: The New Age, 18-24 April, 1999)
