Narendra Modi terms communal violence bill a recipe for disaster

Expressing strong concern that the proposed legislation would further divide people on religious and linguistic lines, Modi said, "religious and linguistic identities would become more reinforced and even ordinary incidents of violence would be given a communal colour thus giving the opposite result of what the bill intends to achieve".

He also brought out various "operational issues" in the proposed Prevention of Communal Violence (Access to Justice and Reparations) Bill, 2013.

"For example, Section 3(f) that defines 'hostile environment', is wide-ranging, vague and open to misuse. Likewise, the definition of communal violence under Section 3 (d) read with Section 4 would raise questions on whether the Centre is introducing the concept of 'thought crime' in the context of the Indian criminal jurisprudence," the letter said.

Modi wrote in his letter to the PM that these provisions have not been examined from the view of the Evidence Act.

"The move to make public servants, police and security agencies criminally liable can adversely impact the morale of our law and order enforcement agencies and it may also make them vulnerable to political victimisation," Modi said.

He also criticised the manner in which the Centre was bringing the communal violence bill, saying it showed no consideration for the nation's federal structure.

"Law and order is an issue under the State List and (if) it is something that would have to be implemented by the state governments, then it should be legislated by the state governments," the letter said.