Govt adds more teeth to anti-terror laws, gives undercover ops protection
New Delhi: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has said the Centre was working towards making anti-terror laws more stringent by providing protection for undercover operations.
The home minister, while inaugurating a conference of investigating agencies in the national capital on Friday, said the government was committed to punishing terrorists and was working to strengthen both the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the National Investigation Agency (NIA) Act.
“We are considering legal protection for undercover operations, use of intelligence collected as evidence and entire gamut of issues relevant to combating terrorism. Due to widespread use of social media by terrorists, new threats have emerged in the country,’’ Singh added.
“To face these challenges, the present capabilities of specialised organisations like Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-IN), Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) need to be strengthened,” he further said.
The Home Minister also revealed the government was also examining enactment of Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Act to provide legal sanction for evidence obtained through Mutual Legal Assistance Treaties and remove doubts about admissibility of such evidence.
Singh said the BJP government at the Centre had taken various steps to improve the quality of investigation and has revamped the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network Systems (CCTNS) project for complete computerisation of the working of the police and extended it to court, jail, prosecution and forensic laboratories.
The home minister noted that as per the National Crime Records Bureau, the conviction rate was very low and that is why quality of investigation is crucial in ensuring justice for the victims. He said the thrust should be on improving investigation at police station-level.
In wake of recent attacks on the Dalit community, Mr Singh said the Central government is committed to empowerment and development of Dalits and has created an atmosphere where the community can approach police without hesitation if they are victimised.
The NDA government has strengthened Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act by amending it in 2014 and adding a new category of offences, he said.
The home minister said the government was concerned about crimes against women. Dedicated investigative units on crime against women (IUCAW) are being established in 564 districts of India. He said that in these units, one-third of investigators would be women and funds would be made available by central and state governments on 50-50 partnership basis.
