Independent Senator Prof Ramesh Deosaran has described the Tobacco Control Bill, 2009, as an infringement on people's right to privacy.
Speaking during debate on the bill in the Senate yesterday, Deosaran said it was also an attack for yet another time on Section 4(a) of the Constitution which dealt with the enjoyment of property. "What we are seeking to do is trampling upon or taking away something to which so many people have grown accustomed to in the privacy of their own homes," Deosaran said.
He said the bill did not have the force to curb people's appetite or addiction to cigarettes. "As far as 'forcibility' is concerned, this bill will not meet the 75 per cent mark," he said. He noted that while there was legislation against the use of marijuana, it was being used here there and everywhere, including in front of schools. Deosaran noted that according to research, while 40 per cent of secondary school students admitted to smoking two or three times while at school in the last few months, 50 per cent of them admitted to smoking on a regular basis while at home.
"This also implies that their parents smoke heavily, so you have a generational transmission which is what the legislation is trying to break," he said. Deosaran called for an in-depth study to be done on why people who were fully aware of the dangers of smoking continued to smoke.