Sudden spurt in terror activities in the recent past has brought forth the deep roots, terrorism has established in our society. With the spate of blasts occurring within a short span, one is bound consider the urgent need to rejig our terrorism laws and polices considered to be inadequate and inefficient to throttle the very roots of terrorism in our society and it is being argued by the various opposition leaders the need to bring back the Prevention Of Terrorist Act, apparently considered to be the only way to uproot technically-advanced and deep rooted terrorism from our nation.
The Prevention of Terrorism Act was enacted by BJP led government on 28th March, 2002 and was amongst the most stringent laws the country has ever approved to tackle the scourge of terrorism. The law has the provision to keep the suspect in police custody for 180 days before proving his/her guilt and the confessions of suspect under the police custody shall be held enough for proving the guilt. After getting strict resistance from human right activists, the law was vetoed by the UPA government on 17th Sept, 2004.
Now after the terrorism resurfaced, as is evident from the recent blasts in the four major cities of country, it is again argued that the conception of this very act will serve as a malady for the disease of terrorism. But before implementing the law one needs to think again that whether this law which entrusts the major powers in the hands of our government officials, be successful given the structure of police administration in our society which still runs on the basis of the laws enacted 147 years back.
July 16,2004 a 629-page report based on depositions made before the Tribunal by victims and their families from ten states in India, as well as expert depositions by lawyers and activists, showed that such security legislations grant sweeping powers to authorities, which has led to misuse of these powers and severe restriction of basic rights of human.
On the behest of this draconian law 87 people, all of them Muslims, were picked up from the Godhra village on the charges of burning the Sabarmati Express, , and were kept 4 years under pre-trial detention in spite of various attempts by human right activists to secure their bail. With such misuse of powers against political opponents, there is not even a slightest doubt what damage this law can do to our society.
Terrorism and Disruptive Activities(Prevention) Act, TADA which was replaced by POTA clearly states that out of 75000 people held from 1985-1995, only 2000 has been proved of their guilt. And 98% of the cases against the suspect had been solved before 180 days, the period of detention under POTA. With the above stats one can easily figure out the uselessness of such stringent laws and opposition to various human rights.
In the end, I would like to conclude with the view, that existing laws are sufficient to tackle the menace of terrorism and the draconian laws like POTA cannot be implemented unless we ensure the sound police administrative structure and corruption free government which are very distant in the democracy like ours.
