http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Cabinet-sends-bill-on-khaps-to-GoM/articleshow/6144531.cms
Cabinet sends bill on khaps to GoM
Dhananjay Mahapatra, TNN, Jul 9, 2010, 01.25am IST
NEW DELHI: The Union Cabinet on Thursday referred a standalone law to
deal with "honour killings" to a group of ministers, after several
members found fault with the proposal to amend the existing law to
deal with the menace.
The GoM will submit its recommendation after getting inputs from
states in the next 3-4 weeks so that a bill designed to deter "honour
killings" can be introduced, as planned, in Parliament during the
month-long monsoon session beginning on July 26.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh decided to refer it to a GoM after
several ministers questioned the efficacy of the home ministry-drafted
bill, which proposed slapping murder charges on all those participting
in khap panchayats' decisions to kill couples marrying against social
norms.
The objections raised by ministers with sound legal background were
not about the desirability of treating connivance and support for
khap's sanction for "honour killings" as murder, liable to be punished
with death penalty.
The resistance was more because of doubts that the objective could be
best served by amending Section 300 of IPC to include participation in
khap's calls for "honour killings" as an additional criterion of what
constitutes murder.
Members of the Cabinet like HRD minister Kapil Sibal, highways
minister Kamal Nath and sports minister M S Gill expressed doubts that
the proposal in the draft Indian Penal Code and Certain Other Laws
(Amendment) Bill was the best way to go about the task.
However, as the PM acknowledged the need for wider consultation and
decided to send the matter to a GoM, his colleagues like information
minister Ambika Soni, urban development minister Jaipal Reddy and
telecom minister A Raja stresssed that government could not afford to
be seen as doing nothing in response to a problem that has, while
revulsing many sections, threatened to become a trend and could
inspire copycat crimes.
Talking to media, Soni talked of the presence of public opinion as she
stressed that the task of bringing a bill would be accomplished during
the mosoon session itself.
The emphasis was necessary in view of the impression, generated by
support for and ambivalence over "honour killings" by those like
Congress MP Navin Jindal, that sections of the political class may be
sympathetic of khaps viewing inter-caste and intra-gotra marriages as
"dishonour" to the community.
In the meeting of the Cabinet, ministers with a legal background, like
Sibal, questioned the desirability of the home ministry's proposal to
add "fifthly" clause to Section 300 saying that the most it could
achieve was to make the participants in a "honour killing" decision
liable as conspirators or abettors of the murder.
Sibal, according to sources, pointed out that this was redundant since
the IPC already provided for roping in a person as a conspirator or an
abettor if he had played some role in planning and/or facilitated
execution of the murderous plan. Gill termed it as impractical, Kamal
Nath said all options needed to be explored and the approach should be
cautious, pointing out that while people may turn out for a meeting of
the caste panchayat, they may not have any role in the decision taken
by the body. He also cautioned that a law that was loosely defined
could be misused and, hence, could prove to be counter-productive.
Sibal, according to sources, said for the social menace of honour
killings to be stopped, it would be better to have a specific law on
the lines of Prevention of Corruption Act or Dowry Prohibition Act --
which were brought in to deal with crimes which were not expressly
mentioned in the IPC.
It was also pointed out that even existing laws could be strong enough
a deterrent, if state governments had the necessary will -- an
argument made outside also by Congress general secretary Digvijay
Singh.
Why not make a law that would punish a politician if he participated
in khap panchayats or supported their views -- was one of the
arguments that was put up during the discussions to drive home the
point on the "political will of the state governments" to deal with
the social evil.
Since law and order is a state subject, the Cabinet felt the bill
should be referred to a GoM which would consult state governments and
take their suggestions on the need for a specific law.
The preparation to draft a bill to amend IPC to make honour killings
distinct from ordinary murders gained speed after attorney general G E
Vahanvati gave an opinion answering in the affirmative the home
ministry's query `whether legislative intervention was necessary to
make honour killings a specific offence'.
The push for the possible amendment of IPC to make honour killings a
separate offence and make it distinct and wider from ordinary murders
came from the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which in the recent past
had been flooded with applications from young couples seeking
protection from khap panchayats. The HC had said it was time society
protected such harassed couples.
The Supreme Court also had recently issued notices to the Centre,
Haryana and seven other states asking what steps had been taken to
curb honour killings and protect terrorised young couples.
dhananjay.mahapatra@timesgroup.com
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