Bill on Central anti-terror agency in LS

New Delhi: Gearing up to fight terrorism in a more effective manner, the government today introduced in the Lok Sabha a Bill to set up a National Investigation Agency (NIA) and another legislation to strengthen the law against terror.The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Bill aims at strengthening the arrangements for speedy investigation, prosecution and trial of cases related terrorism while at the same time guarding against any possible misuse of such provisions.The National Investigation Agency Bill provides for setting up an agency at the Central level with powers to probe terrorism and other crimes having national ramifications across the country.
The two bills were introduced by Home Minister P Chidambaram, a day after Union Cabinet cleared these in the wake of Mumbai terror strikes.The Agency is being sought to be established in a concurrent jurisdiction framework with provisions for taking up specific cases under specific Acts for investigation, the Bill said. It also envisages provisions for setting up of Special Courts to try terror-related cases.The Bills have been brought forward as the "country has been the victim of large-scale terrorism sponsored from across the border," Chidambaram said."There have been innumerable terrorist attacks, not only in the militancy and insurgency affected areas and areas affected by left wing extremism but also in the form of terrorist attacks and bomb blasts in various parts of the hinterland and major cities," he said.