New anti-terror clause

Why is it in news?
  • A senior government official said that the proposed amendment to the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) that enables the government to designate individuals as terrorists will be used “sparingly”.
More in news
  • 1st on the list: Once the anti-terror law is amended, the first ones to be designated on a priority basis will be Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad’s Masood Azhar and Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafiz Saeed.
  • Rules yet to be defined:
    (1) The government is yet to define the rules that will govern the Unlawful Activities Prevention (Amendment) Bill, 2019.
    (2) The official said the process was non-judicial. It will be decided by officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and the “burden of proof” will be on the government.
  • No specific provisions yet:
  • As of now, there are no specific provisions to initiate legal action against officials who have erred in their decision.
  • The police will be able to act against the individual concerned based on the designation, though the jail term and other punitive actions have not been specified yet.
  • Alignment to international laws:
  • The official claimed the Bill was in alignment with laws in European Union (EU) countries, U.S., China, Israel and even Pakistan, adding that Sri Lanka started designating individuals after the April 21 Easter terror attacks.
  • To address anomaly:
    (1) India faced embarrassment in diplomatic circles earlier this year while convincing the world to designate Masood Azhar as an international terrorist under UN norms.
    (2) India was asked why it hasn't designated Azhar yet.
    (3) The UAPA bill is to address this anomaly. The official said it will be a “small list” and the focus will be on “dreaded self declared terrorists” whose parent outfits are already banned under UAPA.
  • Concerns about the overreaching aspects:
    (1) The Bill was passed in the Lok Sabha this week. It will have to be cleared by the Rajya Sabha to be enacted as a law.
    (2) Several MPs have expressed concerns about the overreaching aspects of the legislation as it could be used by Centre to harass innocent people.
  • Proposed procedure:
  • The first step would be the proposal that has to come from the intelligence agencies. The information provided by one agency will be corroborated with another, it has to be credible.
  • MHA will examine the proposal and once it is convinced after going through all the records, it will be cleared by the Home Minister and then notified.
  • Procedure of appeal after designation:
    (1) Once the individual has been designated as a terrorist, he or she could file an appeal before the MHA, either in person or through registered post.
    Source
    The Hindu




Posted by Jawwad Kazi on 27th Jul 2019
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