Assam Congress has reacted strongly against Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s statement that the state government would bring a law against cheating “with regard to marriage”.
Referring to the Assam CM’s announcement, the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) in a statement on Monday asked, “Our question is – isn’t he (Chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma) aware that there is already a law against cheating and deceiving?”
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“It is surprising that a CM would not know about the age-old Section 415 of Indian Penal Code that defines cheating and that Section 420 in the Indian Penal Code deals with punishment for cheating, dishonesty & deceiving,” the APCC said.
This law is applicable to anybody, who is a cheater or who is a deceiver irrespective of whether one is a Hindu or a Muslim, said the statement, issued by Bobbeeta Sharma, chairperson of the media department of APCC.
In the eyes of our Indian legal system, everybody is equal and nobody can be above law, it said.
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“Our legal system already has provisions to protect its citizens whether they are men or women irrespective of religion,” the APCC said.
Saying that “when we already have an existing law for any such situation of ‘cheating’ or ‘deceiving’, the APCC said, “we don’t understand where is the need to enact another law for ‘cheating’ or deceiving?”
The State Congress committee claimed the Assam CM is “politically motivated to divert the attention of the people from more pressing issues of spiraling petrol, diesel price and increasing prices of essential commodities that is making life extremely hard for the common people”.
“We think his comments are just an attempt to keep people engaged in debates & discussions in social media and in TV debates so that real issues do not get highlighted,” the APCC further said in the statement.