On November 5, 2019, President Ram Nath Kovind gave his assent to the controversial and anti-terror bill, namely, Gujarat Control of Terrorism and Organised Crime (GCTOC) Bill, passed by the BJP-ruled state in March 2015 and it came into force on December 1, 2019. Earlier known as the Gujarat Control of Organised Crime (GUJCOC) Bill, it had failed to get the presidential nod thrice in 2004, 2008, and 2015 by the then presidents viz., Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Pratibha Patil, and Pranab Mukherjee respectively. In 2015, the Gujarat government re-introduced the bill which has become law now.
Salient Features of the Act
Following are some of the salient features of the Act:
(i) It draws heavily from the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), 1999, but is different from it in that checks on the interception of communication is missing in the Gujarat law, and the definition of the terrorist act also includes an intention to disturb public order. Thus, it becomes harder and broader than MCOCA.
(ii) It provides for the creation of a special court.
(iii) It includes extortion, contract killings, human trafficking, land grabbing, and cybercrimes.
(iv) It provides for the attachment of properties acquired through organised crime and cancellation of transfer thereof.
(v) Confessions made before a police officer would be considered as evidence.
(vi) It has doubled the time for authorities to file a charge sheet from 90 to 180 days.
(vii) Evidence collected through wire/electronic interception or oral communication is admissible now.
(viii) The arrest would be non-bailable.
(ix) Legal actions by the State government are provided immunity.
(x) It also covers economic offences like organised betting, Ponzi schemes, etc.
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Controversies in the Act
The Act has also attracted criticism regarding the following:
(i) The GCTOCA talks of admissibility of evidence but it does not mention the procedure for the interception.
(ii) Section 14 of the GCTOCA reflects a corresponding section of MCOCA in which the term ‘any other law’ is not defined.
(iii) As against MCOCA, the GCTOCA does not have any provisions for annual report, giving a full account of requests for the interception, numbers of applications approved or rejected, etc.
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