Parliament passes bill to give NIA more teeth

New Delhi: The Rajya Sabha on Wednesday unanimously passed a bill giving more powers to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to probe terrorist acts against Indians and Indian interests abroad. The Lok Sabha had passed the NIA (Amendment) Bill 2019 two days earlier.

Replying to the debate on the bill in the Rajya Sabha, home minister Amit Shah assured the House that the legislation will not be misused. At the same time he defended the government for not filing an appeal against the acquittal of all four accused including Swami Aseemanand in the 2007 Samjhauta Express blast case.

Earlier, Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi had said that the NIA had miserably failed to prove charges against Aseemanand, the main accused in the case. Shah replied that the charge sheet in the case was filed by the UPA government and the case was registered out of political vendetta. “Appeal is not decided by the prosecution agency or the government. It is decided by the law officer. If the law office does not find evidence (in the charge sheet), if the law officer gives an opinion that there is no case for appeal, the government can’t do anything,” said Shah. “Our government goes by the law officer’s opinion and not by political opinion.”


Shah also criticised the Congress for raising question of efficiency of NIA. “Since 2014, a total of 195 cases were registered by NIA, of which charge sheet was filed in 129,” he said. “Of these 129, judgement has come in 44 cases. In 41 cases, culprits have been punished.”

Later, while speaking on the bill, Shah said that the NIA is capable of protecting Indians within the country as well as abroad and that the government will not misuse the law. Several opposition leaders have raised concerns over possible misuse of the law by the government. “People should have faith that this law is not misused against them,” Sanjay Singh of Aam Aadmi Party had said during his speech.

The latest amendments to the Act will enable the NIA to additionally investigate offences related to human trafficking, counterfeit currency, manufacture or sale of prohibited arms, cyberterrorism and offences under the Explosive Substances Act, 1908.