Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India]: Vijay Wadettiwar, the Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra State Assembly ,said that the recently introduced Maharashtra Special Public Security Bill, 2024 aims to suppress opposition and common people under the “guise of curbing Urban Naxals”.
Pointing to the provision made in the bill, Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar said that if any member speaks against the policies of the government, the person can be arrested and kept in jail for two years, adding that “Ye democracy ki dhajiyyan udane wala hai.'”
Eknath Shinde government introduced the Maharashtra Special Public Security Bill, 2024 in the Monsoon session of the Assembly on July 11.
LOP said, “This bill is brought in Maharashtra under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) made by the Central Government. The provision made in this bill is that if any member of the institution speaks against the policies of the government, he can be arrested and kept in jail for two years. ‘Ye democracy ki dhajiyyan udane wala hai.'”
Speaking about the Lok Sabha election results, he said, “INDIA alliance here (in Maharashtra) achieved a great victory. The purpose of this bill is to suppress the opposition, to suppress the views of the opposition party leaders, and to stop the opposition from saying anything against the government. ‘Ye democracy ka gala dabane jaisa hai.’ This is the government’s policy to silence the common man who speaks against the government’s policies and they want to bring this in Maharashtra.”
The Congress leader further said that the Opposition will stage a protest against the proposed Bill that aims to strangle the opposition.
“We will protest, and we will not sit idly by. And if it wants to strangle the opponents in this way, then people will uproot such a government and will never bring it back to power,” he added.
The provisions of the Bill have been criticised for being “draconian”, and concerns have been raised as under the bill, “Unlawful activity, which means that any action taken by an individual or organization whether by committing an act or by words either spoken, written or by signs or by visible representation or otherwise–which constitute a danger or menace to public order, peace and tranquility; or interferes or tends to interfere with maintenance of public order; or interferes or tends to interfere with the administration of law or its established institutions and personnel; or is designed to overawe by criminal force or show of criminal force or otherwise to any public servant including the Forces of the State Government or the Central Government, the Maharashtra government may, by notification in the Official organization Gazette, declare such an organization to be an unlawful organisation”
The bill seeks to achieve several objectives, one of which includes, “The spread of active frontal organizations of the naxal groups gives constant and effective support in terms of logistics and safe refuge to their armed cadres. The seized literature of naxals shows “safe houses” and “urban dens” of the Maoist network in the cities of the State of Maharashtra.
The activities of naxal organizations or similar organizations through their united front are creating unrest among common masses to propagate their ideology of armed rebellion against the constitutional mandate and disrupts public order in the State.”
Earlier on July 13, the Maharashtra Inspector General of Anti-Naxal Operations, Sandip Patil, had stated that the objective of the Maharashtra Special Public Security Act is to curb the activities of unlawful organisations.
“Recently, the Maharashtra Special Public Security Bill was introduced in the assembly session of the Maharashtra government. It aims to curb the activities of unlawful organisations. Maharashtra police and Gadchiroli police have been successful in containing jungle Maoists,” said IG Sandip Patil.
Notably, the above-mentioned bill allows the Maharashtra government to label any group as an illegal group by notification in the official gazette.
As per the draft bill, the term ‘organisation’ denotes any group or body that has a name or not and is governed by the constitution or not. ‘Unlawful activity’ stated in the bill denotes any action that “constitutes a danger or menace to public order, peace and tranquility, interferes with or tends to interfere with maintenance of public order, interferes with or tends to interfere with the administration of law or its established institutions and personnel, of indulging in or propagating, acts of violence, vandalism, or other acts generating fear and apprehension in the public, or encourages or preaches disobedience to established law.”
“If a member of an unlawful organisation takes part in meetings or activities of any such organisation or contributes or receives or solicits any contribution, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and shall also be liable to fine upto Rs 3 lakh,” reads the bill.
All offences that have been mentioned under this bill will be cognizable, non-bailable and will be investigated by a police officer not below the rank of a sub-inspector, as the bill mentioned.
The Maharashtra Assembly’s monsoon session concluded on Friday without the passing of this bill.