Gujarat defies Prez, passes anti-terror bill

Ahmedabad: The Gujarat Assembly on Tuesday passed the Gujarat Control or Organised Crime Act and added the word ‘terrorism’ everywhere along with organised crime.

Rejecting President Pratibha Patil’s suggestion – who had asked for three changes to be made to the act – the Assembly passed the Bill.

The rationale for Gujarat government in adding the word terrorism was that the state does not have any law to deal with terrorism and related activities.

When GUJCOC was introduced the last time in 2003, Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) was already in place and hence the inclusion of the word terrorism was not necessitated.

The Bill will now be sent to President for approval.

The Bill was passed by the Gujarat Assembly in 2003 and is modelled on the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act. However, the Centre has been withholding consent.

On June 19, the Centre on Friday announced it had returned for the second time the stringent anti-terrorism Bill framed by the state government.

The Union Cabinet has sought three amendments to the Gujarat Control of Organised Crime Act, Home Minister P Chidambaram announced.

Modi alleged that the Centre had discriminated against Gujarat by returning the legislation which was on the lines of MCOCA (Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act) in Maharashtra.

“Under the proposed Gujarat Control of Organised Crime Act, a confession before a police officer is admissible in a court. This should be made inadmissible,” Chidambaram said after a Cabinet meeting presided over by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

“The Act also contains a clause stating that a court cannot grant bail if the public prosecutor opposes it. The court should have the power to grant bail even if the public prosecutor opposes it,” Chidambaram said.

The third amendment related to Section 20 (2) of the Act that the Home Minister did not specify.

Chief Minister Narendra Modi alleged the Centre had a political motive in seeking the amendments. "This is what we have been asking for. But I see politics behind all this. Why does the Centre have double standards?" he told CNN-IBN.