Weaponising 'morality'

The 130th Constitutional Amendment Bill inverts legal principles

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The 130th Amendment Bill of the Constitution weakens the foundations of democracy in a governance architecture in a way that has come to enable governments at the Centre and in the states to capture institutions of law enforcement and investigation. It seeks to provide for the removal of the Prime Minister, a chief minister, or any other minister in the central or state government who is arrested and detained for 30 consecutive days. The apparent purpose of the Bill is to ensure morality in public life. Though this reasoning, reflected in the Bill's Statement of Objects and Reasons, may sound unexceptionable in theory, it inverts the legal principle of assuming someone innocent until the person is proven guilty. It is also a disingenuous explanation, given the well-established fact of low conviction rates — just 37 per cent for cases under the Prevention of Corruption Act — rendering the law moot in terms of achieving its stated purpose.