Parliament on Friday passed the amended UAPA bill, which provides for proscribing individuals involved in terror crimes as terrorists, after a sharp debate which saw home minister Amit Shah clash with opposition leaders P Chidambaramand Digvijaya Singh. The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment bill, 2019, was passed with 147 ‘ayes’ against 42 ‘noes’, with Congress finally voting in favour of the bill notwithstanding its opposition to what it said was a vague provision for proscribing an individual whom the Centre holds to be a terrorist.

Other parties who voted with the government included TRS, BJD, TDP & AIADMK. The parties that voted against the bill included Trinamool, CPM, CPI, DMK, RJD, SP, NCP, PDP & IUML. Their reservations primarily pertained to blacklisting of individual terror suspects & the “anti-federal” provision seeking to empower the National Investigation Agency DG to seize properties linked to terrorism without prior consent of the state police chief. They also cited the low conviction rate in UAPA cases.

Congress voted for the bill after supporting a demand to send the bill to the select committee, which was rejected by the House by 104 to 85 votes. Shah slammed the “low conviction rate” argument & said it was based on the combined investigation & prosecution record of state governments & the NIA. Of the 278 cases registered by the NIA under UAPA, chargesheets were filed in 204. Of the 54 cases where courts passed judgment, 48 resulted in convictions — a conviction rate of 91%, which Shah said was “the best in the world”.

Earlier, Chidambaram said Congress had amended the UAPA on six occasions & “nobody can point a finger at Congress & say we were soft on terror”. Pointing to the “ambiguous” provision of branding a person as terrorist just because the Centre believes him to be a terrorist, Chidambaram wondered whether it would be used against “eminent” persons accused in the Koregaon-Bhima violence including activists Gautam Navlakha, Shoma Sen & Varavara Rao etc.

Shah assured that designation of an individual as terrorist would be subject to a four-stage scrutiny, even as Chidambaram termed the provision “unconstitutional” & “certain to be struck down by the courts” as it went against personal liberties. The home minister said outfits often circumvented a UAPA ban by rebranding.

Source Link

Picture Source :