 bill no 51 of  2018 the prevention of enforced disappearance bill, 2018 byshri om prakash yadav, mp a billto provide punishment for enforced disappearance of any person by public servants or any person subjecting a person to an enforced disappearance with the consent or acquiescence of any public servant and for matters connected therewith or incidental theretowhereas india is a signatory to the united nations international convention for the protection of all persons from enforced disappearance:and whereas it is considered necessary to ratify the said convention and to provide for more effective implementationbe it enacted by the parliament in the sixty-ninth year of the republic of  india as follows:—1  (1) this act may be called the prevention of enforced disappearance act, 2018(2) it extends to the whole of indiashort title, extent and commencementdefinitions2 in this act, unless the context otherwise requires,—45 of 1860(a) words and expressions used but not defined shall have the same meaningsrespectively assigned to them in the indian penal code, 1860; and5(b) any reference to any enactment or any provision thereof shall in any area in whichsuch enactment or provision is not in force be construed as a reference to the corresponding law or the relevant provision of the corresponding law if any, if force in that areaenforced disappearance103 whoever, being a public servant or being abetted by a public servant or with theconsent or acquiescence of a public servant, intentionally does any act which deprives any person of his liberty, including arrest, detention, or abduction, which is followed  by a refusal to acknowledge such deprivation of liberty or concealment of the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared person, which place such a person outside the protection of the law is said to effect an enforced disappearance:15provided that nothing contained in this section shall apply to any deprivation ofliberty or arrest or detention as aforementioned caused by any act, which is inflicted in accordance with any procedure established by law45 of 1860explanation—for the purposes of this section, 'public servant' shall, without prejudiceto section 21 of the indian penal code, also include any person acting in his official capacity under the central government or the state government20punishment for enforced disappearance4 where the public servant referred to in section 3 or any person abetted by or withthe consent or acquiescence of such public servant, subjects a person to enforced disappearance for whatever purpose, shall be punishable with imprisonment of either description for a term  which shall not be  less than three years but which may extend up to ten years and shall also be liable to fine25punishment for disregarding information of an enforced disappearance5 whoever, being a public servant, was aware of or consciously disregarded informationof any enforced disappearance effected by subordinates under his effective authority, and failed to submit the matter to the competent authority for investigation and prosecution, shall be punishable for a term which shall not be   less than one year but which may extend up to ten years and shall also be liable to fine statement  of  objects  and  reasonsindia signed the international convention for the protection of all persons from enforced disappearance (as drafted by the united nations general assembly on 29th june, 2006) on 6th february, 2007 to ratify the convention, it is necessary to enable legislation to reflect the definition and punishment for ''enforced disappearance'', and bring domestic laws in conformity with the convention2 the legislation fulfils india's commitment to the united nations to the universal declaration of human rights and to a legal system that offers remedies for human rights violations by the state3 enforced disappearances are human rights violations which not only cause an unlawful deprivation of liberty of the individual, but cause psychological, economic and social distress to the families of the ''disappeared'' individual who are unaware of the fate of the person the legislation recognises, as in the convention, the ''right of any victim to know the truth about the circumstances of an enforced disappearance and the fate of the disappeared person, and the right to freedom to seek, receive and impart information to this end''4 india's history is marred with violations of human rights and enforced disappearancesa human rights watch report in 2007 noted the revelation of 6,000 secret cremations by the police in just one of the erstwhile districts of punjab a report by association of the parents of disappeared persons indicated that more than 8,000 people have gone missing under suspicious circumstances in jammu and kashmir between 1989 and 2008 as regularly reported, the incidents are not limited to disturbed areas but affect people of all ages and professions in the states of andhra pradesh, gujarat, maharashtra, uttar pradesh, bihar, rajasthan and odisha it is necessary to enable legislation that prevents future enforced disappearances, and protects the citizens from such crimes5 the proposed legislation, inter alia, defines the expression ''enforced disappearance'', and provides punishment for those involved in subjecting an individual to an enforced disappearance6 the bill seeks to achieve the above objectsnew delhi;om prakash yadavfebruary 9, 2018 lok sabha———— a billto provide punishment for enforced disappearance of any person by public servants orany person subjecting a person to an enforced disappearance with the consent ofacquiescence of any public servant, and for matters connected therewith orincidental thereto————(shri om prakash yadav, mp)gmgipmrnd—4151ls(s3)—19-02-2018