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Draconian

B. S. Raghavan

BY AN order issued on May 24, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs directed ``every householder or other person'' to report to the officer-in-charge of the nearest police station about the ``arrival or presence in his household or in any premises occupied by him or under his control, of any foreigner, if he knows or has reasons to believe that he is a foreigner''. The Government has clarified that the word `foreigner' also includes persons of Indian origin who hold foreign passports. Non-compliance with t he order would attract punitive action, with imprisonment up to five years or a fine or both.

At one stroke, the Government has made unwelcome aliens of one's own sons, daughters or other close relatives, leave alone friends, who may have taken the citizenship of other countries and may be holding those countries' passports. Imagine trudging to t he nearest police station and facing all the humiliation, indignity and mental torment of being grilled with prying questions just because your son, daughter, son-in-law or daughter-in-law, who is a citizen of another country, has come to spend a few wee ks with you. In one moment, this order trashes without compunction an act of loving reunion into a cruel misery.

Had India been a genuine democracy, such a draconian directive would have resulted in widespread protest demonstrations compelling the Government to retract. However, the meek citizenry of this country seems to have lumped the insult without being any th e worse for it. The lack of concern may be because the general mass of people do not have foreigners as their visitors or guests. In that case, they should be made aware that other governments do not rob the people of their rights and freedoms at one go; they nibble at them little by little, and by the time the people realise the danger to their lives and liberties at the hands of authorities, they find themselves helpless and unable to shake off the shackles.

Indira Gandhi's infamous Emergency of 1975 was smoothly superimposed on the 13 years of external emergency declared at the time of the Chinese aggression in 1962 because the operation of the Defence of India Rules and the suspension of fundamental rights and judicial writs during this period had accustomed the people to accepting the curtailment of their rights.

Of the same genre as the Foreigners Act is the nearly century-old Official Secrets Act. Under its provisions, a citizen can be thrown into prison for up to 14 years on the presumption of being guilty of the charge that he passed on secret Government mate rial to the enemy. In September 1998, a committee set up by the Government to examine the 2,500 or so Central laws dating back to the 19th century called for the ``urgent repeal'' of 1,300 of them since they had become irrelevant or dysfunctional.

As regards State laws, the committee observed: ``It is worthwhile keeping in view the fact that there is not even a rough estimate available about the number of laws operating as State laws. There might be 25,000 to 30,000 laws of States''. It is quite p robable that more than half the number have outlived their purpose or are violative of people's rights. The committee strongly urged the incorporation of a sunset provision in the laws with a built-in repeal after a specified period unless it was re-enac ted for sound and valid reason. Counting on the people's subservience, the Government has brazenly ignored these recommendations.