New Delhi:
The government is in a fix over a Torture Bill, which has run into trouble with both the BJP and the Left opposing it vociferously in the Rajya Sabha, where UPA numbers are shaky.
After it was passed in the Lok Sabha, the government would have expected smooth passage for the Prevention of Torture Bill in the upper House, but the BJP has rejected it outright and the Left wants it to be refered to a standing committee. Both for dramatically different reasons.
Home Minister P Chidambaram introduced the bill last evening and instantly faced the Opposition's third degree. "We want to talk to our chief ministers," said BJP leader SS Ahluwalia.
Brinda Karat, CPI-M leader said, "I have moved a motion to send it to a select committee." The issue will be taken up on Tuesday, but trouble is brewing,
India is a signatory to an international convention against torture since 1975. In May this year, 35 years later, the government brought a bill in the Lok Sabha in tune with the convention. The lower House passed it.
In the Rajya Sabha, the friction is over a clause that police and government officials who extract information from suspects ''intentionally'' through physical or mental torture can be tried after prior ''sanction'' from relevant authorities.
The BJP says the bill is loaded in favour of criminals and is against the police. The Left rubbishes the BJP's contention and says the bill should be more victim friendly. "If the intention is to make a law which is for victims - women who face torture in custody - we want it to go to a select committee," said Karat
The government now has to figure out a middle path. To pass the Bill in the Rajya Sabha, it needs support from either the left or the right.
Meanwhile the country's cops, who depend on good old-fashioned third degree in the absence of scientific crime fighting facilities, are awaiting the outcome of this tussle. If passed, the khaki's fear factor may never be the same again.