Modi Government clears Gujarat Anti-Terror Bill GCTOC 2015

The Narendra Modi Government has finally cleared the controversial anti-terror legislation, Gujarat Control of Terrorism and Organised Crime (GCTOC) Bill, 2015, which was rejected by the UPA Government at least thrice.

The bill was first introduced in 2001 by Narendra Modi, when he was the Gujarat Chief Minister. Although it was passed by the Assembly, the UPA Government never accepted it due to some controversial clauses.

Union Home Ministry led by Rajnath Singh, cleared the bill and sent it to the President’s Secretariat. It will become a law once the bill receives President Pranab Mukherjee’s assent. It would be interesting to see whether the President would approve the bill or seek any clarifications.

While GCTOC Bill 2015 is a strong anti-terror law and a similar legislation was already enacted in Maharashtra (MCOCOA), the following clauses had become a bone of contention between the state government and centre as well as the civil society groups:

The bill seeks to arm the state police with sweeping powers, including allowing use of police intercepts of phone calls as evidence in court, seizure of accused’s property and extended 180-day deadline to file chargesheet. Confessions before a Police Officer of SP Rank or above will be admissible in court.