TERRORISM IN INDIA: DOES INDIA HAVE ANY ANTI - TERRORISM

LEGISLATION?

The word “Terrorism” whenever heard can be associated with 9/11 attacks in the United
States or 26/11 “Taj attacks” in Mumbai, India. According to the Oxford Dictionary
“terrorism” can be defined as “an unlawful use of violence and intimation, especially against
civilians, in the pursuit of political aims.”1. The word “terror” can mean the use of extreme
fear to intimidate people. The foundation of terrorism in India to some extent was laid
down with partition in 1947. Before diving into the acts , fighting terrorism in India, let’s
look at the five terror attacks which shook India: - firstly, 1991 – assassination of former
Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi by Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Secondly,
1993 – Serial blast in Mumbai. Thirdly, 2001 – parliament attack by five terrorists
belonging to “Jaish-e-Mohammad” and “Lashker-e-Taiba”. Fourthly, 26/11 Mumbai
Terror attack in 2008, Fifthly, Pulwama Attack of 2019, wherein forty CRPF personnel
lost their lives. Terrorism has had an immense impact on India and to curb this problem
various legislations have been enacted in India, few of them are discussed herein.

Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, 1987 was formed with the aim of
dealing with Terrorist Activities in India. Soon after its Implementation, the Constitutionality
of this act was questioned before the Supreme court in Kartar Singh v. State of Punjab 2 as this
act gave enormous powers to the agencies for dealing with the terrorists. The police were not
obliged to produce such terrorist before the magistrate within 24 hours and the terrorist could
have been detained for almost a year. The cases tried under this act were less than two
percent and most of them resulted in acquittal. This led to the repealing of TADA in 1995.
Then came The Prevention of Terrorism Act, 2002 (POTA), this act was enacted to curb
down the Anti – Terrorist activities in India, but it also had major drawbacks , like the person
could be detained for almost 180 days without filling of charge sheet. POTA was blatantly
abused and hence had to be repealed in 2004 for being too autonomous. The acts which are
currently dealing with anti - terrorist activities in India are Unlawful Activities (Prevention)
Act, 1967, it aims at preventing any ‘Unlawful’ activities which are against the Sovereignty
and integrity of India. This act has been subjected to various amendments and the latest took
place in 2019, which said that “individuals can now be declared “terrorists” and their travel
will be banned once they are declared so. The Second act is, The National Security Act,
1980 which was with the objective of ‘preventive detention of persons’ in cases where such
person is Detrimental to the Security of India. This can be done by the Central and the State
1
John Simpson , Lexcio, Definition of Terrorism , https://www.lexico.com/definition/terrorism
2
Kartar Singh v. State of Punjab, 3 SCC 596, 1994

Prerna Chhabra
government. The person can be detained for a period of twelve months and such order can be
issued by a District Magistrate or the Commissioner of Police.

Terrorism is an “International Evil” which needs to be fought by coming together as a whole,

against it. The recent Bilateral initiative of USA and India, fighting terrorism as a “common
enemy” is the step we need. What needs to be done on the domestic level , especially in India
is ‘ending the religious and socio- economic division in the society’, Only then we can
achieve “peace” and reinstate the faith in Humanity.

Prerna Chhabra