The Parliament on Friday has approved an amendment in the Anti Terror law to give powers to Central Government to designate an individual as a terrorist and seize property. The Lok Sabha had passed the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Bill, 2019 that seeks to amend the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act of 1967 of July 24. The Rajya Sabha approved it by voice vote on Friday after rejecting an Opposition's sponsored motion to send it to the Select Committee.
The Salient Features of the Bill.
The amendments allow the Government to designate an individual as terrorist and bring in embargo on arms/assets seizures.
Under the law, personal/financial information of an individual designated as terrorist can be shared with various western agencies.
It gives power to officers of the rank of Inspector of NIA to investigate the offences under chapter 4 and chapter 5.
The bill will empower NIA to conduct raids anywhere without the relevant State Government's prior permission.
Besides designating an individual as a terrorist, the bill empowers the NIA to grant approval to seize/attach property when the case is being probed.
Can this Act be Misused?
Anyone will be designated terrorist on certain belief and that should be based on material evidence.
There is right of appeal and Article 21 of the Indian Constitution talks about "due process" of law which clearly means no conclusion can be made arbitrarily.
It is not the scenario that investigating agencies takes the call and it remains the final word. The Judicial Scrutiny is there. So there is no chance that it will be misused.
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