PCOCA PLANS PUT ON HOLD
‘NO LONGER NEEDED’ With police arresting or killing 30 of 38 mostwanted gangsters under Congress regime, need for law has ‘waned’; panel on law has met only once since June
With at least 30 most-wanted gangsters in Punjab jailed or killed in police encounters since February 2017, the time the new regime took over, the state government has put the enactment of Punjab Control of Organised Crime Act (PCOCA) on the back burner. The law’s key provision is that statements that gangsters give under it before a certain category of police officers could not be changed.
CHANDIGARH: With at least 30 of 38 most-wanted gangsters in the state jailed or killed in police encounters since February 2017, the time the new regime took over, the state government has Put the enactment of Punjab Control of Organised Crime Act (PCOCA) on the back burner. The law’s key provision is that statements that gangsters gIVE under it before a certain category of police officers could not be changed.
An indication of the government’s lack of interest is that the Cabinet sub-committee to which the law was referred to in June 2017 has met only once over the past 11 months, in August. Health minister Brahm Mohindra heads the panel. Local bodies minister Navjot Singh Sidhu and technical education minister, Charanjit Singh Channi, are also on the panel.
On the lines of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), the law is a brainchild of state DGP, Suresh Arora, who had pushed for its introduction to crackdown on organised crimes during the previous SADBJP government.
“When Captain Amarinder Singh took charge as chief minister, the situation was different. Gangsters had a free run and targeted killings were taking place. Now, the scenario has changed. With no-political interference, the police have cracked hard and most gangsters are behind bars or were killed. Do we still need a law like PCOCA is debatable?” Mohindra told HT.
The law was put up before the previous Cabinet in July 2016. It was put on hold, after a few ministers raised apprehension that certain clauses could be misused to settle scores with political opponents.
WHAT THE LAW PROPOSES
Originally, PCOCA proposed that a statement given before a SP rank official would be admissible before court. This was amended later, suggesting that the SSP rank officer would record statements under this law and it would go to the IG, who would then invoke the Act, only after permission from an ADGP rank officer. An ADGP was supposed to be responsible for enactment
AG Punjab has also suggested a ‘sunset’ clause in the Act and repeal it after three years.
“I don’t think we need this law. Police in Punjab are already mighty, probably the most powerful police force in India. It runs like a parallel government. We should not forget that we have not been able to tame an SHO (Paraminder Bajwa, who has registered the FIR against Congress candidate from Shahkot Hardev Singh Ladi Sherowali). Imagine, if any SSP gets out of control using the PCOCA,” said another member of the sub-committee.
DGP BATS FOR THE LAW
Punjab DGP Suresh Arora admits that a feeling had developed within the government that the state did not need PCOCA. However, he is in favour of the law. “There is hardly any possibility of misuse of the law, as many checks have been proposed,” the DGP added.
Citing the low conviction rate of gangsters, he added that the law was also required in the trial of the arrested gangsters. “Of 105 gangsters arrested between 1996 and 2016, only 10 were convicted. In most cases, witnesses turned hostile due to fear or a compromise was struck,” he adds.
“Statements given under PCOCA cannot be changed. Hence, gangsters will fear this law,” he has, in the past, claimed. Karnataka, Bihar, Delhi, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala have similar laws to deal with organised crime