{"id":50310,"date":"2019-07-20T19:00:43","date_gmt":"2019-07-20T13:30:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogadmin.forumias.com\/?p=50310"},"modified":"2019-07-20T16:54:06","modified_gmt":"2019-07-20T11:24:06","slug":"7-pm-the-terror-debate-20th-july-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/7-pm-the-terror-debate-20th-july-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"7 PM | The terror debate | 20th July, 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Context:\n<\/strong>The\nchanges proposed in \u2018The National Investigation Agency (Amendment) Bill, 2019\u2019.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>National\nInvestigation Agency (NIA):<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The National\nInvestigation Agency was set up in 2009 in the wake of the Mumbai terror attack\nthrough NIA Act, 2008. <\/li><li>It provides for a\nnational-level agency to investigate and prosecute offences listed in a\nschedule (schedule offences). <\/li><li>Under the existing Act,\nthe NIA can investigate offences under Acts such as the Atomic Energy Act, 1962\nand the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, 1967.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>NIA\naims to:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Be a thoroughly\nprofessional investigative agency matching the best international standards. <\/li><li>Set the standards of\nexcellence in counter terrorism and other national security related\ninvestigations at the national level by developing into a highly trained,\npartnership oriented workforce. <\/li><li>Create deterrence for\nexisting and potential terrorist groups\/individuals. <\/li><li>Develop as a storehouse\nof all terrorist related information.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The\nkey features of the \u201cThe National Investigation Agency (Amendment) Bill, 2019\u201d:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The National Investigation Agency (Amendment) Bill, 2019 was introduced in Lok Sabha. <\/li><li>The Bill seeks to enable the NIA to additionally investigate the following offences: <\/li><li>human trafficking<ul><li>offences related to counterfeit currency or bank notes<\/li><li>manufacture or sale of prohibited arms, <\/li><li>cyber-terrorism, and <\/li><li>offences under the Explosive Substances Act, 1908. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/li><\/ul><\/li><li><strong>Jurisdiction of the NIA:<\/strong> The officers of the NIA have the same powers as other police officers and extend across India. The bill amends to give NIA officers the power to investigate scheduled offences committed outside India, subject to international treaties and domestic laws of other countries.\u00a0\u00a0<\/li><li><strong>Special Courts:<\/strong>\u00a0The Act allows the central government to constitute Special Courts for the trial of scheduled offences. The bill enables the central government to designate Sessions Courts as Special Courts for the trial of scheduled offences.\u00a0 <ul><li>The central government is required to consult the Chief Justice of the High Court under which the Sessions Court is functioning, before designating it as a Special Court.\u00a0 <\/li><li>When more than one Special Court has been designated for any area, the senior-most judge will distribute cases among the courts.\u00a0 <\/li><li>Further, state governments may also designate Sessions Courts as Special Courts for the trial of scheduled offences.<\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Challenges to national investigating agency:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Offenses:<\/strong> offenses to investigate\nwere increased in the bill. To investigate cyber-crimes, need skilled manpower\nand ethical hackers. Even though cyber policy came in 2013 still no measures\ntaken to create skilled manpower<\/li><li><strong>Special courts:<\/strong> Across India\u2019s subordinate courts-the first port-of-call for\nmost cases- more than a third of the 31 million cases have been pending for\nmore than three years. Verdict on kathua case came after 18 months. Although\nspecial courts will speed up judgments but filling up the vacancies of\njudiciary is a challenge in present times.<\/li><li><strong>State subject:<\/strong> police, law and order are state subjects. If NIA get the\nsame power as state police there will be clash of administration and chances\nare there that state police agencies will not support NIA team for\ninvestigation. <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Other\nAnti-terror laws in India:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>TADA:<br>\n<\/strong>The\nTerrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, 1987, was at one time the\nmain law used in cases of terrorism and organised crime, but due to rampant\nmisuse, it was allowed to lapse in 1995. The Act defined a \u201cterrorist act\u201d and\n\u201cdisruptive activities\u201d, put restrictions on the grant of bail, and gave\nenhanced power to detain suspects and attach properties. The law made a confession\nbefore a police officer admissible as evidence. Separate courts were set up to\nhear cases filed under TADA.<\/li><li><strong>POTA:<\/strong><br>\nIn wake of the 1999 IC-814 hijack and 2001 Parliament attack, there was a\nclamour for a more stringent anti-terror law, which came in the form of The\nPrevention of Terrorism Act (POTA), 2002. A suspect could be detained for up to\n180 days by a special court. The law made fundraising for the purpose of\nterrorism a \u201cterrorist act\u201d. A separate chapter to deal with terrorist\norganisations was included. The Union government could add or remove any\norganisation from the schedule. However, reports of gross misuse of the Act by\nsome state governments led to its repeal in 2004.<\/li><li><strong>UAPA<\/strong>:<br>\nIn 2004, the government chose to strengthen The Unlawful Activities\n(Prevention) Act, 1967. It was amended to overcome some of the difficulties in\nits enforcement and to update it in accordance with international commitments.\nBy inserting specific chapters, the amendment criminalised the raising of funds\nfor a terrorist act, holding of the proceeds of terrorism, membership of a\nterrorist organisation, support to a terrorist organisation, and the raising of\nfunds for a terrorist organisation. It increased the time available to\nlaw-enforcement agencies to file a charge sheet to six months from three.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Way forward: <\/strong>In the present globalised world, security threats (direct &amp; indirect) are manifold. In this context it is desirable to equip NIA with more teeth by taking states on board. NIA has to be a highly professional body with proper accountability and can be an agency for international collaboration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindubusinessline.com\/opinion\/editorial\/the-terror-debate\/article28595143.ece\">https:\/\/www.thehindubusinessline.com\/opinion\/editorial\/the-terror-debate\/article28595143.ece<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Context: The changes proposed in \u2018The National Investigation Agency (Amendment) Bill, 2019\u2019. National Investigation Agency (NIA): The National Investigation Agency was set up in 2009 in the wake of the Mumbai terror attack through NIA Act, 2008. It provides for a national-level agency to investigate and prosecute offences listed in a schedule (schedule offences). Under&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/7-pm-the-terror-debate-20th-july-2019\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">7 PM | The terror debate | 20th July, 2019<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":49370,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[130,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-7-pm","category-public","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/7-PM.png?fit=1000%2C500&ssl=1","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1704840824},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50310"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50310\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}