Anti torture bill

The credibility of any democracy and the basic principles of good governance inevitably demands right kind of balance to be struck between the conferment of authority on state agencies and the rights of the people on the other hand. The proposed 'anti- torture bill' represents the genre of legal draftsmanship which manufactured the much controversial 'civil liability for nuclear damage bill’. The provisions of the concerned bill clearly fail to carry the will and spirit of CAT and at the same time runs the risk of overshadowing the very soul of Art.21 ( right to life and personal liberty) of the Fundamental rights in our Constitution which the Indian judiciary has kept on nourishing and enriching through its progressive judicial interpretation. Be it the definition of torture or the provisions regarding filing of a complaint against a public servant involved in such a crime, the scales are heavily tilted in favor of the latter Vis-a vis the common man. Let us hope that the Upper house proves its institutional relevance under the constitutional scheme of things by stopping this ill-conceived legislation and suggesting appropriate amendments, keeping uppermost in mind the larger interests of the society.