Gandhinagar: The revised avatar of the Gujarat anti-terror bill was passed unopposed on Tuesday.
"Today the revised GUJCOC Bill has been cleared by the Assembly," said Amit Shah, Minister of State for Home, Gujarat.
Reason: Most Opposition members were not present in the Assembly. They have been boycotting the session for the last 15 days to protest against the suspension of a few Congress MLAs.
"It is a denial of the rights of the Opposition in Parliamentary democracy when important bills are being passed in the absence of the Opposition," said Arjun Modhvadia, Congress MLA.
The Gujarat Congress Opposition has cut a rather sorry figure because it was the Congress in Centre that last month returned the bill to the state Assembly asking for three draconian clauses to be dropped before it can become law.
The revised version has dropped only two of those: One about terms of detention.
GUJCOC: Controversial clauses
- Proposed law: Police be able to detain accused for 90 days without bail
- Existing law: Accused has to be produced in court within 24 hours. Court decides remand and the other about terms of bail
GUJCOC: Controversial clauses
- Proposed law: Public prosecutors have final say on bail
- Existing law: Court has final say on bail
It has not deleted the most controversial third clause that says that confessions of an accused to the police should be admissible in court. Right now only confession before a magistrate is final and binding
GUJCOC: Controversial clauses
- Proposed law: Confessions of accused to police be admissible in court
- Existing law: Confession before magistrate final and binding
Since 2003 when the Gujarat Assembly had first passed the bill, CM Narendra Modi has since been vociferously pushing for the Centre to approve it. His argument: The state needs a better law to deal with rising terror.
A valid argument, but fears of misuse of a bill of this nature in a state that has seen the biggest communal riots in recent times and failure to deliver justice to its victims is very high.