Headlines
Lok Sabha passes bill amid Congress boycott
New Delhi, Aug 4
The Lok Sabha on Tuesday
passed a bill to strengthen provisions to prevent atrocities against
scheduled castes and tribes amid a boycott of the house by the Congress
and some other opposition parties.
The bill seeks to add new offences by amending the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.
Members
of the Congress and other opposition parties whose names were called
out by the chair to move amendments were not present in the house.
Apart
from the Congress, members of the Communist Party of India,
CPI-Marxist, Revolutionary Socialist Party, Nationalist Congress Party,
Janata Dal (United), Indian Union Muslim League, Aam Aadmi Party,
Trinamool Congress and the Samajwadi Party boycotted the proceedings to
protest against the speaker's decision on Monday to suspend 25 Congress
parliamentarians for disrupting parliament.
Replying to a debate
on the bill, Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Thawar Chand
Gehlot said there was no need to add provisions in the bill against
false complaints as such provisions existed under the Indian Penal Code.
The
Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities)
Amendment Bill, 2014 was then passed by the house by a voice vote.
The
bill seeks the substitution of Section 4 of the Act of 1989, which
relates to punishment for neglect of duties by public servants not
belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.