SPEED UP PCOCA DRAFT: CAPTAIN
Likely to be brought this month; to give police more teeth to rein in gangsters and radical forces
Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh has directed the cabinet sub-committee headed by health and family welfare minister Brahm Mohindra to expedite drafting of the legislation on the Punjab Control of Organised Crime Act (PCOCA) to crack down on the menace of organised crime and gangsters in the state.
The directive was issued at Thursday’s law and order review meeting. The chief minister’s instructions came after director general of police (DGP) Suresh Arora raised the issue of giving more teeth to the police to tackle organised crime in the state.
The CM, who was in Patiala on Friday, told reporters that the draft PCOCA legislation to arm police with more teeth to tackle criminals, gangsters and radical forces was in the process of finalisation and the new law would soon be enacted to control the spread of crime and hatred in the state.
He also agreed that it was important to instil the fear of the law into the gangsters to check their attempts to create lawlessness and trouble in the state.
The proposed legislation would ensure that the police are not obstructed in dealing with such gangsters with an iron hand, according to an official release.
Though the proposed law would provide wide powers to police to take any action, as needed, to control gangsters and criminal gangs operating in the state, it would have sufficient checks and balances to prevent misuse, the spokesperson said.
PCOCA was the brainchild of former deputy chief minister Sukhbir Badal, who was also holding charge of home minister during the Akali-BJP regime. However, the cabinet struck down the planned legislation fearing its misuse and he sent it back to the state’s advocate general for revision. The Congress government had, soon after taking over earlier this year, revived the proposal to introduce PCOCA in view of the large number of organised gangs operating in the state and a spate of recent incidents of jailbreaks and violent clashes in prisons.