A six-member delegation of the Congress from Gujarat met President Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday and sought his intervention to strike down the Gujarat Control of Terrorism and Organised Crime Bill (GCTOC) and the Gujarat Agricultural Land Ceiling Amendment Bill, which were passed by the Assembly in August after suspending leaders of the Opposition.
Congress spokesman Shaktisinh Gohil lashed out at the ruling BJP in Gujarat for “attempting to spy on the people for political gains”. He said the GCTOC Bill carried several “draconian” provisions that would deprive the people of their constitutional rights. In case Mr. Mukherjee cleared the Bill, “the police can go scot-free even if someone dies in their custody. The timeframe to file a charge sheet will be increased. And there will be no bail under this law.”
Criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi for introducing “odious” methods of human surveillance in Gujarat, Mr. Gohil said the GCTOC Bill would promote “phone-tapping” by intelligence services. “Prime Minister Modi has tapped women’s phones before,” said Mr. Gohil.
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“But in the absence of the GCTOC Bill, he had to get an approval from an IAS officer, which sometimes becomes hard... So through this law they [the State] want to make it easier to get approval from low-rung officers of the State cadre.”