Image Courtesy:hindustantimes.com
Following the footsteps of Uttar Pradesh government, the Haryana Assembly passed The Haryana Recovery of Damages to Property during Disturbance to Public Bill, 2021 by a voice vote, while Congress members rushed to the Well of the House demanding withdrawal of the bill amidst slogans of “Bill vapas lo, vapas lo” (Take the bill back).
The Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar justified the bill and said “it was necessary to instill fear in the minds of those who damage property and this is our constitutional legal system”.
Now that it has been passed by the Assembly, it will become a law as soon as it receives the Governor’s assent. The contentious bill “provides for recovery of damages to properties caused by persons during disturbances to public order by an assembly, lawful or unlawful, including riots and violent disorder”, reported The Indian Express. The bill also proposes a Claims Tribunal to determine liability and award compensation, similar to the law in place in UP. While the UP law was passed in the aftermath of the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) of December 2019, the Haryana Bill seems to be a response to the farmers protesting the three Central farm laws.
Vij said the Bill was meant to hold accountable those who burn shops and damage other public and private property during protests. “We are not bringing this Bill against people’s democratic right to hold a protest,” he said, adding, “the actual perpetrators of such acts of violence and crimes as also the instigators, organisers be made liable for damages to public and private property and the cost of the forces requisitioned from outside the state for controlling such acts of violence and crimes,” reported IE.
The opposition
The Congress, has vociferously objected to this bill and the Leader of Opposition in the Assembly and former Chief Minister of the state, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, said the law “is going to strangle democracy”. He also demanded that first those people should be identified who dug up roads to stop farmers from entering Delhi.
“Section-14 of the Bill states that the recovery will not only be made from those who indulge in violence but also from those who want to lead the protest, the organizers, those involved in its planning, those who provide encouragement and the participants. The government will take action by placing every protesting person in the category of guilty,” Hooda told IE.
Congress leader R S Kadian questioned the need for introducing such a law and objected to the use of the word “instigator” and asserted that it was “vindictive piece of legislation”. Independent MLA Sombir Sangwan, who had earlier withdrawn support to the Khattar government over the farmers’ issue said that there was a high probability of misuse of the law. congress leader Kiran Choudhary also asserted that the bill was brought to suppress farmers.
“The Bill itself is a law imposing a permanent ban on every person and group who speak, think, protest and state the flaws and mistakes of the government in the State. Not only does this law violate the fundamental rights enshrined in Article 19 of the Constitution of freedom of expression, but it also reflects the mentality and frustration of the BJP-JJP government that is scared of the people of Haryana,” Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala told The Wire.
Provisions of the Bill
The Wire reported that the statement of reason and objects for the Haryana Bill says:
“Whereas the general public has taken a serious note of various past and recent instances of mob violence where there was a large scale destruction, burning-looting of public and private properties, injury or loss of lives during disturbances to public order by an assembly, lawful or unlawful, including riots and violent disorder etc and therefore, the State as well as the private individuals, trusts etc had to suffer huge losses in terms of property and costs. The State Government is supposed to take all preventive, remedial measures so that such incidents are not repeated and public order is maintained. In order to prevent recurrence of such circumstances, there should be a legal framework to cause deterrence in the minds of the perpetrators of violence as also the organisers, instigators etc.”
Further, the bill defines “damages” as “loss, injury or deterioration caused by any act or omission by any person to property of central government or state government or another person during disturbance to public order” and defines “disturbance” as “caused by an assembly, lawful or unlawful and includes a riot, revolt or violent disorder”.
The Bill assigns the Collector the power to issue an order of attachment of property or bank account of any person against whom an award has been passed by the Claims Tribunal. As mentioned before, the Tribunal will determine liability and award compensation recoverable from persons involved in “leading, organising, planning, exhorting, instigating, participating or committing the incident leading to damages”. Further even if an appeal is to be preferred before the High Court, the same can only be made only upon depositing 20% compensation before the District Magistrate.
Related:
Haryana gov’t trying to trap farmers in false cases: SKM
Is UP’s new Ordinance on recovery of damages an example of abuse of power?
‘Naming & shaming’ instead of rule of law: UP recovery of damage to public & private property ordinance, 2020