Revoke suspension of 146 Members of Parliament! https://pucl.org/manage-press-stateme/revoke-suspension-of-146-members-of-parliament/ Dec 23, 2023
Immediately upload in Parliament’s website answers to all 290 Questions raised by MPs! Don’t reduce India’s Parliament to an appendage of the executive!
By suspending 146 MPs, the ruling BJP government has clearly indicated that its actions in earlier sessions of passing laws without any meaningful parliamentary discussion and bypassing parliament by passing Money Bills, were not accidental but intended to devalue the parliamentary process. By these repeated acts of contempt for constitutional conventions, this government has rendered India’s parliament as just an appendage to the executive, like in any autocracy.
Paying no heed to the void created by the suspension of almost the entire opposition in Parliament, the ruling government passed three crucial laws seeking to change the character of criminal justice system in India. The Bharatiya Sakshya (Second) Bill, 2023, The Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha (Second) Sanhita, 2023 and The Bharatiya Nyaya (Second) Sanhita, 2023 were passed by both houses of Parliament with only a voice vote of the ruling party members. The three criminal law bills have far reaching consequences for the entire people of this country seriously jeopardising decades of jurisprudence of criminal justice which had evolved many checks and balances to make the police and state accountable for violation of law.
Similarly, the controversial Telecommunications Bill, 2023 was passed by both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, which has serious privacy concerns since it allows for the interception of private messages as well. Both bills were passed with parliament being reduced to nothing more than a reflection of the voice of the executive.
An alarming total of 14 Bills have been passed in this session after the suspensions of MPs began.