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Offenders must pay for damaging public assets to get bail, Centre told
The commission also raised concerns over protests creating wilful obstruction and blocking public spaces and roads for prolonged periods
Compelling offenders to deposit the estimated value of the public property damaged by them as a condition for granting bail would work as a deterrent against such acts, the Law Commission has recommended.
Seeking amendments in the Prevention of Damage to Public Property (PDPP) Act, 1984, the panel, in its recommendations sent to Union law minister Arjun Ram Meghwal on January 31, also said that either a new comprehensive law dealing with prolonged obstructions be enacted or a specific provision pertaining to the same be introduced in the Indian Penal Code or the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita by way of an amendment.
On Friday evening, a government spokesperson confirmed the submission of the recommendations to the law ministry. “The 22nd Law Commission of India has submitted its Report No. 284 titled - Revisiting The Law On Prevention of Damage to Public Property - to the government,” the spokesperson said.
The report, a copy of which HT has seen, said: “Fear of conviction and sentence in criminal cases relating to the offences under the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act may not act as a sufficient deterrence against destruction of public property. Compelling the offenders to deposit the estimated value of the public property as a condition for granting bail would definitely be a sufficient deterrent against destruction of public property.”
The commission also raised concerns over protests creating wilful obstruction and blocking public spaces and roads for prolonged periods. “Where damage to public property is caused in consequence of demonstration, hartal or bandh called by any organisation, the office-bearers of such organisation shall be deemed to be guilty of the commission of the offence of abetment an offence punishable under this Act...,” it said.
“Public property cannot be allowed to be destroyed by anybody, whatever may be the reason for the same… Destruction of public property should be viewed seriously and the culprits should be punished. Apart from punishing the guilty, it is also in the interests of the state to recover the loss sustained from the person who is instrumental in the destruction of concerned public property,” the commission said.
Legal experts welcomed the recommendations, saying it is the “need of the hour”. “Today, a person thinks that he/she can get away after damaging crores of public property. Within a day or two they get bail. You cannot block a highway or have an indefinite protest. Protest is about making your voice heard. In many countries, the law is so strict that you cannot extend your protest by even a minute or indulge in violence. Setting stricter bail conditions is necessary. The next time they intend to damage a government property, they will fear the implications,” said Adish C Aggarwala, president of the Supreme Court Bar Association.
