The Union home ministry will ask the Gujarat government to revise the bill so that it can be approved by the Centre.
The Union home ministry will ask the Gujarat government to revise the bill so that it can be approved by the Centre. It has informed the President that it was withdrawing the bill and will submit a reworked version for his consent. The controversial provisions in the bill include authorising the police to intercept telephonic conversations and making them admissible as evidence in courts; making confessions made before the police admissible in court; Section 25 of the bill, which gives immunity to the government from any legal action for “anything which is in good faith done or intended to be done in pursuance of this Act”, among others. The anti-terror law has also been criticised for its “draconian” provisions like increasing the period to file chargesheets from 90 to 180 days, and strict conditions for granting of bail to an accused.
The bill was first rejected by then President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam in 2004. But despite the NDA government coming to power, the state legislation has been unable to pass muster with the MHA sending its back to the state government for clarification and review. Last year, the bill was sent back to the state government with the objections raised by the information technology ministry, which raised a red flag over the powers of interception of communications given to the state police.
The Gujarat government had strongly rebutted objections by the IT ministry saying the state was empowered under the Concurrent List to formulate criminal laws and criminal procedure. The Gujarat Assembly in March 2015 had passed the stringent bill retaining the controversial provisions twice rejected by former Presidents.
