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Explained: The lowdown on National Security Act
Why in news?
- Recently a state govt. invoked the National Security Act (NSA) against three men accused of killing a cow.
- In December last year, a Manipur journalist, who had posted an alleged offensive Facebook post on the CM, was detained for 12 months under the NSA.
More in news
National Security Act:
- The NSA empowers the Centre or a State government to detain a person to prevent him from acting in any manner prejudicial to national security.
- The government can also detain a person to prevent him from disrupting public order or for maintenance of supplies and services essential to the community.
- The maximum period for which one may be detained is 12 months.
- But the term can be extended if the government finds fresh evidence.
History of Preventive Detention in India:
- Preventive detention laws in India date back to early days of the colonial era when the Bengal Regulation III of 1818 was enacted.
- It aimed to empower the government to arrest anyone for defence or maintenance of public order without giving the person recourse to judicial proceedings.
- Post-independence India got its first preventive detention rule when the government of PM Nehru enacted the Preventive Detention Act of 1950.
How did NSA come about?
- After the Preventive Detention Act expired on December 31, 1969, the then PM, Indira Gandhi, brought in the controversial Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) in 1971 giving similar powers to the government.
- Though the MISA was repealed in 1977 after the successive government, led by Mrs. Gandhi, brought in the NSA.
Why it matters?
- The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), which collects and analyses crime data in the country, does not include cases under the NSA in its data as no FIRs are registered. Hence, no figures are available for the exact number of detentions under the NSA.
- Experts say these cases point to the fact that governments sometimes use it as an extra-judicial power.
Way Forward:
- The NSA has been in the news for all the wrong reasons.
- It is time to reconsider the law because in four decades of its existence.
Source
Indian Express.