The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

Pota is almost back. Though the anti-terror law the government has sought to legislate does not have a few key provisions of Pota like admissibility of confessions, many other aspects like use of wiretaps as evidence and stringent bail conditions are now set to be part of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. The Mumbai attacks have done what 20 other jihadi strikes on the Indian mainland outside J&K in four years could not do. The political opposition and Congress’ own lack of appetite for hard anti-terror laws melted before the staggering scale of the LeT strikes on Mumbai. Detention without bail for up to 180 days instead of 90 days, police custody of accused up to 30 days instead of 15 and life imprisonment for those involved in terror acts are some of the provisions in the UAPA which were part of Pota. The bill has, however, not revisited one of the most stringent provisions of the Pota—treating confession before police as evidence. As far as banning an organisation or freezing its assets are concerned, the bill, unlike Pota, has taken into consideration the existing resolutions of the UN Security Council. Accordingly, it provides for extending ban on any outfit which has already been proscribed by the world body. Considering this, if Jamaat-ud-Dawa is a banned outfit in the UNSC list, it will automatically come under the category of proscribed organisation in India. Referring to bail provisions and extension of detention to 180 days, the bill has taken into account the difficulties faced by investigating agencies in completing the probe within the stipulated 90-day period —particularly in terror-related cases with inter-state ramifications. The extension is, however, only limited to Indians involved in terror acts. The amendment is not so kind to foreigners who will be denied bail until proven innocent. Even an Indian national accused in a terror case cannot be released on bail. The bill says that the court shall presume, unless the contrary is shown, that the accused has committed an offence for which he has been arrested, including possession of arms or explosives with a belief that these or such substances were used in the commission of a terror act. The amendment also provides for freezing and attaching funds held by individuals or entities engaged in or suspected to be engaged in terrorism. The proposed law has also for the first time included “seizure of credit or debit cards” as ones to be considered as evidence. A new section has been inserted in the bill which says that those using explosives, firearms, poisonous chemicals, biological or radiological weapons with the intention of aiding, abetting or committing a terror act “shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 10 years”. The bill says that anyone in India or in a foreign country who directly or indirectly raises or collects funds or provides funds for a terrorist act shall be punishable with at least five years imprisonment, which may extend to life.