National security Act Vs POTA
dewakar
(Querist) 16 April 2009
This query is : Resolved
How far NSA and POTA is different in Nature andscope hen the scope of their misuse is still open?
M. PIRAVI PERUMAL
(Expert) 18 April 2009
After the Independence of India , political parties and people in power have formulated special legislation's in order to crush the vote of dissent and to deal with their political opponents. The legislation's may be in the form of Maintenance of Internal security Act,1971, followed by National Security Act,1980 and in similar terms Public Safety Act, as operational in Jammu & Kashmir. Later on taking shelter under special circumstances, the political party at the helm of affairs in New Delhi framed special legislation called, Terrorist And Disruptive Activities(Prevention) Act,1985 and now the latest draconian law, Prevention of Terrorism Act, 2002
A study of these laws would disclose that the legislature had the sole object of suppressing the voices of dissent or to deal with the political opponents so that they do not become people's movements. These legislation's have been from time to time framed and mis-used in the beginning in one state or the other , but when the majority of the Indian citizens chose to not to raise their voice against such repressive laws, these laws were mis-used in the whole of the country. For example, TADA when it was originally introduced and passed in the Parliament, the excuse was to contain the elements who demanded a separate home land for the Sikhs and were considered by the interested parties to be a threat to national security. In the garb to contain the movement, the Act which was introduced mainly for Punjab was by and large mis-used in all the states till it was finally allowed to lapse and die its own death in April, 1995, but before its death, it ruined lives of thousands of innocent citizens, not only in Punjab, but also in various parts of the Indian State. In Punjab, more than fifteen thousand people were booked under TADA most of them were Sikhs and falling in the age group of 18-25 years. Though the Act is no more in force after April, 1995, but even today in the State of Punjab there are around fifty cases of TADA being tried in the various courts. So, the mis-use of TADA continues unabated, even after the death of the Act.
Similarly, the National Security Act, 1980 which was in force even before the political turmoil in the State of Punjab was made more stringent by amending the Act on June 9, 1987 and the period of detention was increased from one year for all other states to two years in the case of Punjab. The biggest mis-use of this legislation was seen in Punjab, when after "Operation Blue Star" in June, 1984, many Sikh political and religious leaders, besides lawyers, journalists, human rights activists and intellectuals who openly raised their voice condemning the worst kind of crime against humanity, were detained under N.S.A for months together. It was the glaring example of mis-use of special legislation against a particular section of people who opposed the government's abuse of powers to suppress the peoples movement . One fact also deserves notice that a particular security legislation is enacted by keeping the situation of a particular state or region in mind, but it is indiscriminately applied to whole of India, without seeing whether that state is ridden by similar circumstances or not. To cite an instance, while TADA was enacted to protect the security and integrity of the country by fighting with militants in Punjab, it was applied to even Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat where there was no threat to national security nor there were similar armed groups fighting for their right to self determination, as was the situation in Punjab. The result was that the TADA was mis-used more in other parts of India, than in Punjab. In Uttar Pradesh there were more than thousand arrests under TADA and more than nineteen thousand people were booked under TADA in Gujarat. The State of Punjab claimed to have contained terrorism with the aid of special security legislation like TADA, but the government figures belies this. Many persons booked under TADA in Punjab were not even remo
