Author: Bashir Pathan
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: August 30, 2008
URL: http://www.indianexpress.com/story/355158.html
Introduction: Modi will also apprise the PM
of the various measures taken by the police in the state to solve the July
26 blasts case. His party, meanwhile, has started mobilising popular support
for an early clearance of the GUJCOC Bill.
On Friday, as Chief Minister Narendra Modi
left for New Delhi to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and underline the
need to have a legislation to curb terrorist activities in the state, particularly
in the wake of July 26 blasts, the issue of the Gujarat Control of Organised
Crimes (GUJCOC) Bill triggered a fresh spat between the ruling BJP and the
Opposition Congress in the state.
Modi will also apprise the PM of the various
measures taken by the police in the state to solve the Ahmedabad blasts case.
His party, meanwhile, has started mobilising popular support in the state,
through various programmes, for an early clearance of the GUJCOC Bill. The
BJP has claimed that the UPA Government at the Centre is keeping the state
Government on tenterhooks regarding the Bill.
Gujarat Minister of State for Home Amit Shah
said: "The UPA regime is yet to respond to the state Government's repeated
pleas for an early clearance of the Bill, particularly when such a legislation
is needed for the speedy trial of those arrested in connection with the blasts."
He added that Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh already have similar
legislations, but BJP-ruled states - Gujarat and Rajasthan - were being deprived
of such a law.
Countering this, Leader of Opposition in the
Assembly, Shaktisinh Gohil, said there are certain clauses in the Bill that
are "draconian" in nature, and may be misused against innocent people.
The UPA Government, after repealing POTA, has already asked all the states
to use the provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA),
which will help check terrorist activity as well as organised crimes, he contended.
Gohil referred to two clauses of the amended GUJCOC Bill, pending with the
Centre, which, he says, could be misused by the BJP Government. He objected
to the fact that the Bill said "the evidence collected through the interception
of wire, electronic or oral communication under the provisions of any other
law shall be admissible as evidence against the accused in the court during
the trial of a case".
The Opposition Congress leader also objected
to another provision of the Bill that states "a confession made by a
person before a police officer not below the rank of the Superintendent of
Police and recorded by such police officer either in writing or on any mechanical
or electronic devices like cassettes, tapes or sound tracks from which sounds
or images can be reproduced, shall be admissible in the trial of an accused,
co-accused, abettor or conspirator for an offence".
"Despite POTA, that existed during the
NDA regime, the Parliament, Raghunath Mandir and Akshradham Temple were targeted
by terrorists. Why couldn't the NDA regime prevent those acts of terrorism,
even though the POTA existed then?" he contended.
Gujarat unit's PUCL president Prof J S Bandukwala
has also dashed off a letter to the PM, urging him that "under no circumstances,
the BJP's demand for clearing the GUCOC Bill should be conceded". He
said on Tuesday: "The Bill should not be given Presidential assent, otherwise
Muslims in Gujarat will suffer. Around 87 Muslims, including 78 from Godhra,
arrested under POTA have remained in pre-trial detention even six years after
the post-Godhra carnage."
Meanwhile, at a recent meeting held in New
Delhi, Gujarat's representatives had reportedly raised the GUJCOC issue. But
Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil reportedly advised Gujarat to use the UAPA
provisions to deal with terrorism.
