Agartala: The Tripura Assembly on Monday passed “Recovery of Damage to Public and private property Bill 2021” amid opposition from the CPI-M legislators. The Bill will allow the government to penalize those who have caused any sort of damage to public or private properties during acts of violence.
Speaking on the issue, Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb said, “Whenever any sort of violence takes place, there is no provision to help the victim. The victim fails to get any support in absence of law. The intention of the government is to streamline everything and those who are involved in such activities must be booked”.
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Opposing the Bill, CPIM MLA Badal Chowdhury said, “this Bill has been brought here just to silence the opposition party workers. The intention of the government is to trample the democratic rights of the people”.
As per the provisions of the act, the victim would be awarded compensation subject to the assessment. The officer-in-charge of police would investigate such incidents of damage to public or private property either based on FIR or gathering information from other sources and file the claims of damage to the Tribunal for compensation preferably within three months of the incident.
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If the Tribunal thinks fit, appoint a Claim Commissioner to estimate the damage and investigate liability to assist it in holding the investigation, the Act said.
“The liability of damage will be borne by the actual perpetrators of the crime or instigated or incited giving rise to the liability to be shared. However, every order or award passed by the claim tribunal shall be final and appeal can be preferred in the High Court only”, the Act reads.
Opposition MLA Ratan Bhowmik said, “with this Act, police officers have been given absolute authority and this act can be used as a repressive tool against the opposition”.
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