Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Monday said it was not proper for former finance minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram to criticize the three new criminal justice laws outside Parliament without participating in the debate in the House.

Interacting with participants of the Rajya Sabha Internship Programme at Parliament House, he said after Independence and for the first time, “we have had three laws and those three laws are with respect to working of our system in courts. The “dand vidhaan,” a colonial legacy, became “Nyay Vidhan.”

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Mr Dhankhar said a few days ago, the senior Rajya Sabha member had commented on the three laws. He had not spoken in the House and thereby lost a good opportunity to speak. It was really his constitutional responsibility to give his views in a forceful manner, and the whole nation would have come to know them.

“Speaking in the House creates an environment, people become aware of their views. It is not proper that a member does not participate in the House debate and speaks outside,” the Vice-President said.

He said “when the matter came for consideration it was thought wise that a committee should look into it. So a committee dealt with the issue. It had members from both the Houses. That committee was chaired by a very senior member. Everyone in the committee had one point or the other. They had the opportunity to go to the issue at the micro level.”

“When you meet in a group or in a committee you get full freedom to express your point of view. You will hear the point of view of others,” he said. After an intense interaction in a cool, calm, composed atmosphere, the report is submitted and that report comes before the House.

“If a member is part of the committee, makes his point of view before the committee, and the committee by majority holds otherwise, that member still has great opportunity to participate in the proceedings before the House, make his point known to the House, and try to convince the House by persuasion, logic and rationality,” Mr Dhankhar said. Many times it is seen, the government amends the proposed laws.

“If you do not discharge your constitutional duty, if you do not participate in the debate, if you do not take your point further, you are in a sense not performing your duty. And then if you say something outside, you suffer the handicap that you had valuable opportunity, constitutional platform, a rare opportunity that is available only to members of parliament, you fail to avail the opportunity, in a sense you forfeit your right. You show your concurrence by non-participation, by observing silence,” the Vice President said.

Mr Dhankhar said the debate in the House is thus a meaningful exercise and this debate has a lot of significance. Members have a golden opportunity to present their case and seek its acceptance in the House.