)
After failing to get Presidential assent for its anti-terrorism Bill thrice, the Gujarat Assembly on Tuesday passed the controversial Gujarat Control of Organised Crime Bill in a new form. The state government has rechristened the new Bill as the Gujarat Control of Terrorism and Organised Crime Bill, 2015.
The Bill aims to make special provisions for prevention and control of terrorist acts and for coping with criminal activities by organised crime syndicates.
The Bill, on the lines of the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act, was rejected in 2004 and 2008 by then Presidents A P J Abdul Kalam and Pratibha Patil, respectively. Both had suggested some amendments in the provisions related to telephone interception and confessions made before a police officer being considered as evidence in court.
While the Bill has been renamed, it still contains some of the contentious provisions that had led to its rejection by Presidents in the past. For example, the Bill notes, “The evidence collected through the interception of wire, electronic or oral communication under provisions of any other law shall be admissible as evidence against the accused in the Court during the trial of the case.”
In the Statement of Objects and Reasons, the Bill tries to justify these provisions saying in contemporary times, where organised criminal syndicates make extensive use of wire and oral communication, it is necessary to have such provisions for interception to obtain evidence. It is an inevitable and indispensable aid for the law enforcement. It further says, “It is, therefore, considered necessary to enact a special law with stringent provisions, including the power to intercept wire, electronic or oral communication.”
After its passage for the third time in the Assembly, the Bill is still pending for clearance from the President.
The Bill also provides for extension of the period of investigation from the stipulated 90 days to 180 days. It makes offences under the Gujarat Control of Terrorism and Organised Crime Act, 2015, non-bailable. Clause 20 (4) of the Bill states, “Notwithstanding anything contained in the Code of Criminal Procedure, no person accused of an offence punishable under this Act shall, if in custody, be released on bail or on his own bond.” Section 25 of the Bill states, “No suit, prosecution or other legal proceeding shall lie against the State government or any officer or authority of the State government for anything which is in good faith done or intended to be done in pursuance of this Act.”
Kalam had objected to Clause 14 in 2004 and returned the Bill to the state government then led by the then chief minister Narendra Modi, asking it to remove the clause. According to the clause, evidence collected through “interception of wire, electronic or oral communication... shall be admissible as evidence against the accused in the court”.
Later, when the Bill was passed in 2008 after deleting the particular clause, then President Patil rejected it and suggested some more amendments. One of them was to eliminate the provision, which allows confession made before a police officer, be admitted in the court as evidence.
However, the state government ignored the suggestion and once again passed the Bill in 2009 for a third time and sent it for the President’s approval. The Bill is still pending with the President. In the new Bill, the government has retained the provision related to confessions made before a police officer. It has proposed the officer should be of the rank of Superintendent of Police or above.
