AHMEDABAD: Gujarat assembly on Tuesday passed by a majority vote the controversial Control of Terrorism and Organised Crime Bill (GCTOC) which allows police to intercept and record telephonic conversations and submit them in court as evidence.

The bill, which was earlier returned by the President thrice to the state government for reconsideration when Narendra Modi was CM, was passed by a majority vote amid stiff resistance from opposition Congress, which walked out of the House over its controversial provisions.

The state government re-introduced the Gujarat Control of Organised Crime ( GUJCOC ) Bill in the assembly after renaming it. The bill, however, has retained the controversial provisions.

The contentious provisions of the bill include admissibility of evidence collected through telephonic interception and confession made before police officer as evidence in court.

The GUJCOC Bill, which was on the lines of the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), was rejected in 2004 and 2008 by then President AJP Abdul Kalam and Pratibha Patil respectively.

The bill is a modified version of the original 2003 Gujarat Control of Organized Crime (GUJCOC) Bill which was not cleared by the earlier NDA and UPA governments for last one decade. Now that Narendra Modi has become Prime Minister with full majority at the centre, the Patel government in Gujarat is hopeful of getting presidential assent shortly.

Rajanikant Patel, minister of state (MOS), home in his 'Statement of Objects and Reason's said, “organized crime has for quite some years now come up as a very serious threat to our society. With economic progress, Gujarat is facing threat of terrorism and economic offences. Gujarat has a 1600-km sea border and a 500-km land border with Pakistan. The state has witnessed several terrorist attacks."

"Considering all these facts, then Gujarat CM Narendra Modi introduced the bill but it was rejected by the then UPA government at the centre and now the chief minister Anandiben Patel wants to reintroduce again. Pakistan has become the epicentre of world terrorism that’s why this act is necessary for Gujarat. The present laws are not enough to secure safety of six crore people of Gujarat. This law is for the safety of Gujarat and the country. The act is accordance with the constitution and have enough checks to prevent misuse by police," he said.

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He added that, "terrorism knows no national boundaries and is fuelled by illegal wealth generation by contract killing, extortion, smuggling in contrabands, illegal trade in narcotics, kidnappings for ransom, collection of protection money economic offence such as running of the ponzi schemes or the multi-level marketing schemes with a view to defraud the people for obtaining the monetary benefits or large scale organized betting in any form, cyber crimes, etc. The illegal wealth and black money generated by organized crime is very huge and has serious adverse effect on economy.

It is noticed that the organized criminals syndicates make a common cause with terrorist gangs and foster macro-terrorism which extends beyond the national boundaries. There is reason to believe that organized criminal syndicates are operating in the state and thus, there is immediate need to curb their activities.’’

Patel said that,“it is also noticed that the organized criminal syndicates make extensive use of wire and oral communications in their criminal activities. The interception of such communications to obtain evidence of the commission of crimes or to prevent the commission thereof is inevitable and an indispensable aid to law enforcement and administration of justice.’’

Leader of opposition (LOP) Shankarsinh Vaghela while opposing the bill said that,“I know this will be passed by majority but we are against this bill. If this government is so concerned about the safety of Gujarat why they did not bring it while they were in power in Vajpayee’s seven-year long government.”

“This government has accepted in the bill that contract killing, land frauds etc., have increased in the state. BJP’s corporators are involved in crimes like betting. BJP does not have monopoly over nationalism. Power worship comes first for them. Sajjad Lone who said that he feels happy when Indian soldiers are killed has been made minister from BJP quota in Jammu & Kashmir. Despite prohibition laws in place, state liquor comes in containers here, There are laws against betting but betting clubs are running in open across the state, there are laws preventing crime against women but why this government cannot prevent it? There are laws against murders why this government can not prevent murders? This law will help only BJP in settling their own score, not help securing safety of people," Vaghela said.