CHANDIGARH: The Punjab Government has sent a recommendation to the Center for a two-year extension of the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (prevention) Act (TADA), it is reliably learned.

Sources disclose that the State government has expressed the view that foreign funds were still being pumped into the State to promote secessionist elements. The over-present threat of Pakistan’s powerful Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI) which is continuing its efforts to exploit separatist ideologues, still posed a grave danger, which needed to be curled with stern measures. The State government could, therefore, not afford to do without TADA at present.

According to the government records, there are about 3,000 persons facing a trial under TADA. About 300-odd are still in jail, while the rest are out on bail.

The Center had recently initiated a review of TADA keeping the forthcoming Gujarat and Malharashtra elections in mind. There have been widespread complaints of the misuse of TADA pouring in from the minority community. The case of Gujaratis particularly embarrassing for the government as the number of persons booked under TADA was as high as 19.000 despite there being no terrorism in the State.

The law enforcing agencies are strongly in favor of retaining the ACT and the Union Home Minister, S.B. Chavan, had supported this view. However, the Prime Minister himself has acknowledged that TADA had been misused as a “short-cut to arrest ordinary criminals.” He has even gone on record to say that the State goverments have been warned not to misuse the Act and that it would be used only to arrest militants,  The National Human Rights Commission on the other hand, is in favor of scrapping TADA. The chairman of the commission, Ranganathan Mishra, had announced that the Supreme Court would be moved to have the Act repealed.

The image of the government has also taken a battering abroad due to the misuse of the Act. Amnesty International had recently questioned the Indian government’s assertion that TADA was a temporary legislation. The London-based human rights organization had observed that “although proclaimed as temporary, the Act had been in force for nine years.” The Amnesty International report had accused India of reneging on its assurance to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights with regard to TADA that “scrupulous attention has been taken to protect the rights of the individual under the process of law.”

Article extracted from this publication >> February 10, 1995