People's Democracy

 EDITORIAL

POTA Ordinance: A Fraudulent Step

THE BJP-led government is finding it difficult to defend the infamous Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) which is its own creation. Last year in April, a determined government had convened a joint session of Parliament to push through the prevention of terrorism bill, when it found that it would not pass muster in the Rajya Sabha. The warnings that POTA will only be a repetition of the experience of Terrorist And Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) and that the act would seriously damage the democratic rights of citizens were summarily dismissed.

One and a half years later, the bitter experience of POTA has forced the Vajpayee government to take some cosmetic steps. Firstly to meet the criticism of its own allies, it appointed a Central Review Committee headed by Justice Saharya to review the working of POTA. The CPI(M) and other opposition parties maintained that what was required was the scrapping of the Act, not tinkering with it. The committee found it difficult to make any headway. Justice Saharya complained that many state governments were not even responding to the committee’s queries.

According to the committee under the provisions of POTA, upto October 1, 30l cases involving 1600 persons were registered. Of these 514 were in jail and 885 were absconding. Among those in jail under POTA, the highest was in Jharkhand – 185, J&K – 89, Gujarat – 69, Tamilnadu – 42, Delhi –38 , Andhra Pradesh –36, Maharashtra –31 and Uttar Pradesh – 28.

Jharkhand has used the Act indiscriminately arresting women and children. The POTA is used there against the naxalite groups like MCC and the PWG. Justice Saharya has asked the governments of Jharkhand and Jammu & Kashmir not to arrest women and children under POTA.

For those arrested under POTA, bail is virtually impossible to get. The Supreme Court has in two recent judgements struck down bail given by High Courts to POTA detenus. The plight of Vaiko, the MDMK leader and staunch ally of the BJP, who is languishing in jail in Vellore for sixteen months, has proved to the most embarrassing exposure of the draconian nature of the law.

In the hands of Jayalalitha or Mayawati, POTA became a weapon for curbing the opposition and dissent. In the hands of the police and the bureaucracy, in the name of fighting terrorism, it is often used as an instrument of oppression of the muslim minority. Both in Gujarat and Maharashtra, this is the situation.

The persecution of innocents cannot be prevented by any safeguards within POTA. The recent acquittal of the Delhi University lecturer, Syed Gilani, who was sentenced to death by a POTA court, on appeal to the High Court, highlights the danger posed by the Act to ordinary citizens. Gilani was convicted on the basis of a dubious telephone intercept which was admissible under POTA as evidence.

Both in Tripura and West Bengal, terrorist violence is perpetrated by extremist groups. But the Left Front governments do not use POTA to combat this threat. In Andhra Pradesh and Jharkhand where POTA is used liberally, the extremist attacks have not abated.

The Vajpayee government’s decision to promulgate an ordinance to give powers to the central and state review committees to hear complaints by those booked under POTA and to determine whether they were legitimately arrested, is a fraudulent step to divert attention from the serious problems posed by POTA. The committee can only go into a case if the affected person files a petition. Once the case is remitted to court, the committee will have no jurisdiction. Further, the committee can only see if the person has been booked as per the provisions of the law which is by itself draconian. The fact is making a speech supporting a terrorist organisation (so deemed by the Act) is an offence under POTA.

The hoax of the ordinance has led even the NDA ally, the DMK leader M. Karunanidhi, to declare it a gimmick. The BJP had thought of this amendment as a way to forestall the agitation announced by the DMK beginning from December 1 for the withdrawal of POTA.

There can be no relief from the arbitrariness and loss of liberty under POTA. The Act itself will have to be scrapped. The campaign to scrap POTA should be intensified. When the ordinance comes up in Parliament to be passed as an amendment, the demand should be to give up the cosmetic changes and repeal the Act.