Prevention of Terrorism Act, 2002

Prevention of Terrorism Act, 2002
Parliament of India
  • An Act to make provisions for the prevention of, and for dealing with, the terrorist activities and for matters connected therewith.[1]
CitationAct No. 15 of 2002
Territorial extentIndia
Passed byJoint session of Parliament
Passed26 March 2002
Assented to28 March 2002[1]
Repealed21 September 2004
Repeals
Prevention of Terrorism (Repeal) Act, 2004 (Act No. 26 of 2004)
Amended by
Prevention of Terrorism (Amendment) Act, 2003 (Act No. 4 of 2004)[2]
Status: Repealed
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The Prevention of Terrorism Act, 2002 (POTA) was an Act passed by the Parliament of India in 2002, with the objective of strengthening anti-terrorism operations. The Act was enacted due to several terrorist attacks that were being carried out in India and especially in response to the attack on the Parliament. The Act replaced the Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance (POTO) of 2001 and the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) (1985–1995), and was supported by the governing National Democratic Alliance. The Act was repealed in 2004 by the United Progressive Alliance coalition.

The bill was defeated in the Rajya Sabha (the upper house) by a 113–98 vote,[3] but was passed in a joint session (425 Ayes and 296 Noes), as the Lok Sabha (lower house) has more seats. It was only the third time that a bill was passed by a joint session of both houses of Indian Parliament.[4][5][6]

The Act defined what constituted a "terrorist act" and who a "terrorist" was, and granted special powers to the investigating authorities described under the Act. In order to ensure that discretionary powers granted to the investigating agencies were not misused and human rights violations were not committed, specific safeguards were built into the Act.[7]

  1. ^ a b "POTA 2002 - long title". indiacode.nic.in. Retrieved 31 July 2012.
  2. ^ "POTA (amendment) Act 2003". indiacode.nic.in. Retrieved 31 July 2012.
  3. ^ "It's Not POTA. Yet". OutlookIndia.com. 21 March 2002. Retrieved 28 July 2010.
  4. ^ "POT Bill passed by joint session of Parliament". Rediff.com. 26 March 2002. Retrieved 31 July 2012.
  5. ^ "President summons joint sitting of Parliament". The Economic Times. PTI. 22 March 2002. Archived from the original on 5 November 2013. Retrieved 31 July 2012.
  6. ^ "782 MPs await novel joint session". The Economic Times. TNN. 23 March 2002. Archived from the original on 29 October 2013. Retrieved 31 July 2012.
  7. ^ Press Information Bureau Prevention of Terrorism Act, 2002 Retrieved on 30 June 2008