Rajasthan Honour of Dead Body Bill 2023

IAS Current Affairs

1 year ago

Overview

The Rajasthan Assembly passed The Rajasthan Honour of Dead Body Bill, 2023, which penalises protests with a dead body.

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.

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.

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.

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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