Sikh outfit, Dal Khalsa, on Sunday expressed strong apprehensions that the proposed Punjab Control of Organised Crime Act (PCOCA) would ultimately be misused as tool like archaic sedition to ‘fix’ political opponents and dissidence, given the biases in the system and highly politicised State police and their ruthless working pattern.
Commenting on the Punjab Government’s move to enact the proposed legislation to deal with organised crime under which an officer of the level of the DIG or above would have the authority to invoke it, Dal Khalsa asked the Chief Minister Capt Amarinder to explain how and who would ensure that the DIG level officer won’t succumb under political pressure and act in bias.
Party head, advocate HS Cheema said that his party too wanted peaceful Punjab, free from organised
crime and gang wars, however, by enacting stringent laws alone won’t prevent gangs from indulging in violent acts.
He called upon the human rights and civil liberty groups to take up the matter with the legislators and deliberate whether Punjab really needs new law like PCOCA to curb gang wars as claimed by Chief Minister and the DGP.
He pointed out the people of Punjab had reeled under draconian provisions of various laws and suffered police excesses and rights abuses in not too distant past.
He said as per proposed Act, while confessions before an SP-rank officer will be admissible as evidence, it will automatically lead to more physical torture during interrogations to which Punjab police is infamous for.
Dal Khalsa spokesperson Kanwar Pal Singh said that draconian laws like TADA, POTA, UAPA and others has produced more rebels than deterring people to pick up arms courtesy its selective use or misuse.