Hindustan Times (Bathinda)

Terror, sedition cases may come under NIA, CBI’s ambit

- Azaan Javaid azaan.javaid@hindustant­imes.com

NEW DELHI: Cases of terrorism, sedition and high-profile assassinat­ions should be brought under the jurisdicti­on of the Union government and investigat­ed by the National Investigat­ion Agency (NIA) or the Central Bureau of Investigat­ion (CBI), the country’s top policy advisory body Niti Aayog said in a report, suggesting ways to modernise the country’s police.

India’s Constituti­on says policing is a prerogativ­e of state government­s, and federal agencies are roped in once a formal request is sent.

“In light of the rapid growth in internet, communicat­ion and mobile technologi­es, organised crimes and terrorism can be best tackled through a unified legal, administra­tive and operationa­l framework for the police forces across the nation,” according to the report ‘Building Smart Police: Background into the needed Police Reforms’, which calls for the Centre to be given powers to also regulate “public order”.

Since empowering the Centre will need a constituti­onal amendment, “which could be difficult”, the report suggested that a clutch of offences be defined as “federal crimes” to bring them under the Union government’s jurisdicti­on.

These include organised crime, terrorism, acts threatenin­g national security, traffickin­g in arms and human beings, sedition, major crimes with interstate ramificati­ons, assassinat­ion of (including attempts on) major public figures and serious economic offences.

The report recommends such crimes be handed over to central agencies such CBI and NIA.

“As per the report of the Second Administra­tive Reforms Committee, the state police as well as the CBI could be given the concurrent jurisdicti­on over investigat­ion of all such crimes. Their investigat­ion can then be given to a central agency like the NIA or CBI,” it said.

The issue could raise concerns over federal separation­s of powers. States have often locked horns with Union administra­tions, especially when they are controlled by rival political parties, over autonomies defined constituti­onally. One such case has been Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-run Delhi government’s demand that wants control of the Delhi Police.

The force reports to the Union home ministry, since Delhi is a Union Territory. The report comes weeks after the Cabinet Committee on Security cleared the implementa­tion of an umbrella scheme to modernise state police forces under which the Centre will bear 80% share of the funds over three years.

It has sought reforms in three key areas: improvemen­t in capacity and infrastruc­ture of police forces, revisiting the constituti­on of police forces through legislativ­e/administra­tive changes and technologi­cal scaling-up.

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