Recommendations for a new POTA
If the government agrees to have tough a anti-terror law as recommended by the Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC), Naxalites will also be treated as “terrorists” as the panel has termed them nothing but those who follow “ideology-oriented terrorism” — a departure from the official line which has so far preferred to call them “Left-wing extremists”.
The Commission’s explanation putting the Red Ultras on par with jihadis is the first such ‘official’ move to treat both as “terrorists” after the repeal of Prevention of Terrorism Act (Pota) four years ago. Instead of calling Naxalites Left-wing extremists, the panel in its report — ‘Combating Terrorism’, which was made public on Tuesday — calls them “Left-wing terrorists” who, as elsewhere, are known for “resorting to violence in pursuance of their ideology” of a people’s revolutionary movement.
As the panel explains, the only difference between Naxalites and Jihadis lies in the factor which motivates them. While Red Ultras — who indulge in violence in as many as 13 states with the help of over 10,000 armed cadre — are part of ideology-oriented terrorism, jihadis are motivated by religious fundamentalism “which even overlap with political ambition” — like separatist elements in J&K.
Advocating a tough anti-terror law, the panel, chaired by Congress leader Veerappa Moily, says: “There is need to define more clearly those criminal acts which can be construed as being terrorist in nature.” Incidentally, while laws in USA, Canada, UK, and Australia speak of the intention behind the terrorist act being the purpose of advancing a “political, religious or ideological cause”, the existing Indian laws have avoided any such intention or purpose being incorporated to define or describe a terrorist act.
Besides insisting on defining terrorism, the Moily panel has also come out with a number of other recommendations which include making bail provisions tough for terrorists, increasing the period of police detention from the existing 15 days to 30 days and making confession before police admissible as evidence in courts. It has also pitched for setting up fast track courts exclusively for the trial of terrorism cases, providing for tough measures against financing terrorism and setting up a federal agency to investigate terrorism-related offences.
As far as setting up a federal agency is concerned, the Commission has looked into the crimes to be probed by such an agency which may be created as a specialised division in the CBI. For this purpose, it identified organised crime with inter-state ramification, terrorism, acts threatening national security, trafficking in arms and human beings, sedition, serious economic offences and assassination (including attempts) of major public figures as offences which can be probed by the federal agency.
Though the ARC has come out with these bold provisions by even going beyond the government’s stated positions on Naxalism or anti-terror law, it toed the official line in not coming out with details of illegal immigration in the north-east — a factor which, security agencies believe, poses a major threat to internal security.