After virtually blocking NCTC, Trinamul Congress chief and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has shot down the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) amendments being brought by the Union home ministry. The Trinamul supremo shot off twin letters to the home ministry earlier this week, objecting to the changes in the UAPA fearing misuse.
The home ministry on Thursday placed the UAPA (Amendment) Bill, 2011 before the Union Cabinet where Trinamul leader and railway minister Mukul Roy has already raised a red flag. During the last Cabinet meet, Mr Roy had raised a last-minute objection to the bill demanding that the MHA seek views of state governments before placing the bill before the Cabinet, top government sources said.
The Bengal government wrote to the MHA on May 15 and 16 rejecting the move to expand the scope of the UAPA by bringing offences threatening economic security, like circulation of fake Indian currency, under its purview and extending the ban period on unlawful organisations from two to five years, the sources said. “The West Bengal government has raised multiple objections,” an MHA official conceded.
The MHA bill further seeks to amend the original act to expand the definition of a “person” committing terrorist acts and enlarges the scope of punishment for such individuals, trusts, societies and companies found to be raising or providing funds used to commit a terrorist act.
Rejecting the move, Ms Banerjee has asked the MHA to bring a standalone law to deal with such economic offences rather than bringing them under the UAPA. She has also said the “ban period” on unlawful organisations should remain two years.
The Trinamul’s objection is bound to leave the MHA livid as it has come in the way of the government’s attempt to fulfil its international obligation before the Financial Action Task Force, an inter-governmental body, of bringing requisite legislations to combat money laundering and terror financing within a stipulated time period.