New Delhi: Senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley has raised serious objections over Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde's proposed move to write to all Chief Ministers to review terrorism cases against members of the minority communities.
“The framers of our laws while still permitting separate personal laws dealing with civil rights did not make any exception with regard to criminal law. A crime is a crime irrespective of the birth marks of the criminal. His religious beliefs cannot determine his guilt or innocence,” said Jaitley in his latest blog titled “Why discriminate on basis of Religion".
Terming the entire idea ‘unconstitutional', Jaitley says, “Obviously, he has only religious minority and not linguistic minority in his mind. He expects the State Government to set up Review Committees to deal with cases against a category of citizens and not all persons who have been charged for terrorism offences.”
“This raises certain fundamental questions with regard to the propriety and the legality of the move initiated by the Home Minister.The move is clearly political.
There are several persons charged with offences of terror in India. The provisions have been invoked against those associated with certain radical Islamic groups,” added Jaitley.
