New Delhi: The Opposition was up in arms in the Lok Sabha on Monday over what its members dubbed as four ‘draconian’ laws introduced in the House, including the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Bill to declare any individual as a "terrorist."
Home Minister Amit Shah, who piloted the Bill, even pressed for the opposition parties to withdraw their objections. None obliged. He finally introduced the Bill to be taken up for discussion after the House completes discussion on the Union Budget that began in the afternoon.
Other Bills that were opposed but introduced in the House were the DNA Technology Regulation Bill, the National Investigation Agency (Amendment) Bill and the Protection of Human Rights (Amendment) Bill.
The Opposition's protest was that all these Bills violate the fundamental rights of the citizen and give excessive powers to the officials to take away the right of life and liberty of any
individual.
Congress member Shashi Tharoor and N K Premchandran (RSP) asserted that the unlawful activities law was meant to ban the organisations indulging in the terrorist activities while the Bill will enable the government to detain any individual and keep him custody for years without any court trial.
Tharoor and others opposed the NIA (Amendment) Bill, empowering the investigation agency to register and register the offences anywhere in the world as if they had taken place in India. The Bill also inserts certain new offences that the NIA can probe.
The strongest opposition came on the very first Bill for the DNA technology regulation. Congress group leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury led the attack, protesting that it will violate the fundamental rights of the citizens, making mandatory recording of the DNA of the undertrials even before they are convicted, with no provision for consent of the person.
Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, however, succeeded in introducing the Bill and assuring that every concern will be discussed in the debate. He pointed out that this Bill was also passed earlier but lapsed with the previous Lok Sabha completing its term. He said it is hanging since Atal Behari Vajpayee-led NDA government and it has been scrutinised thoroughly by all forums including the parliamentary standing committee and the law ministry.
