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Terror Act set to be scrapped |
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The NDA Government-enacted Prevention Of Terrorism Act (POTA) may soon be scrapped by the new UPA Government.
The POTA was enacted by the NDA Government against opposition from other parties, through the convening of a joint session of Parliament. Human rights groups have criticized POTA as a measure to harass the minorities. Besides, it has been exploited to settle scores with political opponents by some Governments.
The UPA Government, it is learnt, will shortly introduce a Bill to repeal the POTA in this monsoon session but simultaneously, it has plans to add more teeth to the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, by including terrorism and funding of terrorism in its ambit. This, the Government hopes, will ensure that there is a law to tackle terrorism ‘in line with other nations post-9/11’ in the absence of the POTA. Although POTA lapses on October 24, 2004, the UPA Government wants to score a political point by repealing the Act as it promised in its Common Minimum Programme.
That this was easier said than done became evident when it was pointed out that there is no law in the country that “defines” a terrorist and tackles the “funding of terrorism.” Besides Home Ministry officials, the need to have a law to tackle terrorism was also raised by Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha L K Advani.
Sources said the Government has plans to add the definition of terrorist (Clause 3 of the POTA) and “fund raising for a terrorist organisation to be an offence” (Clause 22 of POTA) in the Unlawful Activities Act so that all the relevant supporting clauses are included in the amended 1967 legislation. The 1967 Act was extended to the state of Jammu and Kashmir in September 1969. While the Government plans to drop the draconian police powers (confessions made to a police officer under certain conditions admissible in court), it plans to amend the Unlawful Activities Act so that the minimum penalty for a crime associated with terrorism is three years of imprisonment. The minimum penalty in the 1967 Act is one year though crime under the POTA is punishable with an imprisonment for a term that could be extended to life.
While the Centre knows that the POTA has been misused by the state Governments with more than 3,000 people (there are about 28 POTA cases in Delhi alone) currently behind bars in the country, it is also committed to tackle terrorism in spite of the Left’s demand to throw the entire law into the dustbin.
Meanwhile, a survey has revealed that the POTA was wrongly applied on a number of persons, including teenagers, across the country. A non-Governmental organisation, the People’s Tribunal, had carried out a survey in 10 states. The tribunal comprises activists such as Teesta Setalvad, retired High Court Justice Husbit Suresh, writer Arundhati Roy, columnist Praful Bidwai, lawyers Mihir Desai and Majeed Memon, retired Chief Justice of the West Bengal High Court D.K.Basu and former Union Law Minister Ram Jethmalani.
The panel interviewed over 100 people, including the accused who were released on bail, acquitted or the relatives who had almost been ostracised during police interrogation. In Gujarat, 99.9 per cent of those booked under the POTA were Muslims, said Ms Setalvad. Of 247 people booked under the POTA in Gujarat, 246 accused are Muslims and one from the Sikh community.
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