UP clears antiorganised crime bill
POLL PROMISE CM Adityanath approves stringent law, state govt will push to pass the legislation in the assembly’s winter session from today
LUCKNOW: The Uttar Pradesh government approved on Wednesday a draft bill for a stringent law against organised crimes such as kidnapping for ransom, land mafia and illegal mining in the state where deteriorating law and order had been an election issue.
Chief minister Yogi Adityanath presided over a Cabinet meeting that cleared the Uttar Pradesh Control of Organised Crime Bill (UPCOCB), which has borrowed several features from the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).
“Organised crime has been defined in the bill. Kidnapping for ransom, illegal mining, manufacturing illicit liquor and its sale, acquiring contracts on the basis of muscle power, organised exploitation of forest produce, trade in wildlife, fake medicines, grabbing of government and private properties, and rangdari (extortion) will come under the
ambit of the new law,” said government spokesperson and power minister Srikant Sharma.
The bill proposes that the government can take over properties amassed through organised crime with the court’s permission, Sharma said. If the suspect is convicted, the government will confiscate the property.
The government is pushing to pass the bill in the assembly’s winter session, beginning Thursday. It will be then sent for the President’s approval.
“The rule of law is the top priority of the government and for this it is essential that those indulging in mafia and goonda activities, and disturbing peace in society, are identified and a special drive is launched against them ... The bill is being brought with this purpose in mind,” Sharma said.
The UPCOCB was pending for 10 years. In 2007, when the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) came to power under Mayawati, a strict law was proposed “to control contract killers, kidnappers, gun-toting contractors, hawala traders, manufacturers of spurious drugs and liquor, the mafia and hardened criminals operating as organised syndicate”.
The assembly passed the bill and it was sent for the presidential assent but the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre opposed the law fearing misuse.
The Adityanath government tried to allay such fears. The new draft of the proposed legislation, prepared in consultation with the law department to check organised and white-collar crime, says no case can be registered without the prior approval of a two-member committee.
The panel comprises the divisional commissioner and deputy inspector general (DIG) of police. Besides, prior approval of the zonal inspector general of police will be required to file a charge sheet after investigation.
Special courts will be constituted for hearing cases lodged under the proposed law and a state-level organised crime control authority has been planned to monitor gangs involved in organised crime.
Opposition parties hit out at the government, claiming the new law was drafted to fool people. “We will oppose the bill. It is fascist and undemocratic. There are already a number of laws. It’s just to curb voice of the people as the Adityanath government has done nothing in nine months. It’s a bid to curtail freedom and will be misused,” SP spokesman Rajendra Chowdhury said.
Congress Legislative Party leader Ajay Kumar Lallu said, “The BJP has done nothing in the state after forming the government. They failed to maintain law and order. The existing laws are not implemented and the new one has been drafted to fool people and divert attention.”
On opposing the draft bill, Lallu said he had not yet got a copy of the same. “It will be decided by the party accordingly at an opportune time,” he said.