Rajasthan Honour of Dead Body Bill 2023
Source : Indian Express
GS II : Governance
Overview
- News in Brief
- Key Features of Rajasthan Honour of Dead Body Bill 2023
- Criticism against the Bill
Why in News ?
The Rajasthan Assembly passed The Rajasthan Honour of Dead Body Bill, 2023, which penalises protests with a dead body.
News in Brief
- There has been an increase in cases where the family sits with a dead body and demands compensation.
- It is becoming a habit of people to keep a dead body for 7-8 days and demand jobs or money.
- Compensation in cases of unjust deaths, already covered by existing laws under the Victim Compensation Scheme.
Key Features of Rajasthan Honour of Dead Body Bill 2023
What is the Bill?
- The state has made it unlawful to demonstrate while carrying a dead body.
Image by Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay - Punishment for protests with a dead body may invite upto 5 years imprisonment.
- The victim’s relatives must immediately lodge a body claim under the legislation.
- If family objects bill gives the district administration the authority to confiscate the body and administer the last rites.
What will be the Punishment and Penalty?
- If the victim’s family does not come forward to claim the corpse, they might be punished with up to a year in jail and a fine.
- They risk receiving a fine and up to two years in prison if they decide to protest carrying a dead corpse or allowing someone else to do so.
- Thirdparty face more severe penalties.
- Any politician who decided to demonstrate beside the body in order to demand an inquiry or reparations might face up to five years in prison.
- If a non-family member objects to the body, they might get a fine in addition to a sentence of six months to five years in prison.
What is Victim Compensation Scheme?
- Compensation is provided in instances of wrongful death under the current Victim Compensation Scheme.
- The measure particularly addresses protests involving dead corpses and sets a different system for dealing with such circumstances.
Other Provision
- The bill included rules for information confidentiality, digitization, and protection of genetic data information through DNA profiling.
Criticism against the Bill
- The legislation was compared to the infamous Defence of India Act (DIR) and Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) put into place during the emergency.
- The parallel has sparked worries about possible power abuse and violations of personal freedom.
- Tribal community, they have a tradition of elders resolving issues over such deaths through motanna custom.
Rise cases of Protest with Dead bodies
- During the previous government between 2014 and 2018, there were 82 such cases, where the family sat on a protest with the body and 30 police cases were lodged.
- Under the current government between 2019 and 2023 there have been as many as 306 such cases and 91 police cases have been lodged.
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