Kanyakumari Vivekananda Kendra members at the discussion session on the proposed bill in Patna on Sunday. Picture by Jai Prakash

Patna, Aug. 7: Opposing the Prevention of Communal and Targeted Violence (Access to Justice and Reparations) Bill, 2011, delegates at Vimarsh, a meet organised by the Patna chapter of Kanyakumari Vivekananda Kendra at the hall of Bihar Industries Association today, observed that it would divide the nation on communal lines. They also called for a mass protest against it.

Retired officer of Intelligence Bureau Ram Naresh Prasad Singh, the chief speaker at the meet, said the bill projected a community as “killers”.

Surgeon Dr Narendra Prasad, another speaker, said efforts should be made to create awareness on the flaws in the bill. He also said a mass movement should be organised to oppose it.

“The proposed bill has been designed in a manner that demonises a community. It works on the presumption that the community is solely responsible for the communal disharmony in India. In simpler words, the bill is against the basic tenet of the Constitution of India that everyone is equal in the eyes of law. If this bill is passed, there will be two types of citizens — one of religious minority and the other of majority.”

Singh also discussed the details of the proposed bill and demonstrated how it affects the peaceful co-existence of different religious communities.

“In the first chapter of the bill, which provides definitions of various terms, ‘group’ has been defined as a religious or linguistic minority or people from the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. The term ‘victim’ has been defined as anyone belonging to this group, who has suffered physical, mental, psychological or monetary harm. Every clause of the bill makes the provision that in the event of communal trouble, the majority community will be assumed guilty,” he pointed out.