The Gujarat Assembly on Wednesday passed by majority a bill dropping the reference to “terrorism” from the Gujarat Control of Terrorism and Organised Crime (GujCTOC) Act, 11 years after it was introduced, taking it back to its original form of 23 years ago, to deal with organised crime. The law on the lines of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), since it was passed in the very Assembly in 2003, was returned by three presidents raising various objections, to be assented to only in 2019.
The Gujarat Control of Terrorism and Organised Crime (Amendment) Bill 2026 was introduced and passed on the concluding day of the eighth session of the 15th Legislative Assembly, primarily to remove the reference to “terrorism” and keep it confined to “organised crime”.
Since the state law in its present form was introduced in 2015 and received Presidential assent in 2019, it has sections dealing with terrorist activities that have since been incorporated into national laws, specifically the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, which replaced the (now repealed) Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860, and came into force on July 1, 2024. The state government said that it was amending the Act to remove duplication of investigation on terrorism cases.
Notably, section 113 of the BNS defines and punishes acts of terrorism in India.
A statement issued by the state government quoted Cabinet Minister Arjun Modhwadia as saying, “The state government had brought the original act (GUJCTOC) in the year 2015. In which there are provisions against terrorism and organized crime. However, now that the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS-2023) has incorporated anti-terrorist provisions, the state government has amended the Gujarat law to remove the provisions related to ‘terrorist acts’ and focus it only on ‘organised crimes’, with the aim of avoiding duplication of investigation. No other change has been made in the original 2015 law of the Gujarat government.”
Some words pertaining to the replacement of the Code for Criminal Procedure (CrPC) with the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), and the Indian Evidence Act with the Bharatiya Shakshya Adhiniyam (BSA) were also made in the amendment.
23-YEAR HISTORY OF GUJCTOC ACT
The Gujarat Control of Organised Crime Bill, drafted on the lines of MCOCA was first introduced in the Gujarat Assembly in 2003 during the chief ministership of Narendra Modi, soon after the Akshardham terror attack. The bill was passed in 2004 but returned during the tenure of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, by President APJ Abdul Kalam who objected to the call interception clause.
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Later in 2004, after the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) repealed the NDA’s Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) the Gujarat government sent the amended bill to the then President Pratibha Patil which referred it to the Union Cabinet and on its recommendation sent it back to Gujarat seeking removal of three sections including admitting confessions before police officers as evidence. Gujarat passed the bill again in 2009 without any changes and once again President Patil withheld it. In 2014 the PM Narendra Modi led NDA government came to power and in 2015 the Gujarat government introduced the “Terrorism” clause and passed the bill renaming it as GujCTOC.
The bill was sent back to the state in the same year after objections were raised by the Ministry of Information Technology. Again in 2016, then president Pranab Mukherjee returned it to the union home ministry seeking some changes, and finally it was given assent in December 2019 by President Ram Nath Kovind. In 2022, the Supreme Court directed that the law would apply only in cases where more than one chargesheet was filed against the accused. Two years later the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita replaced the Indian Penal Code and has section 113 that deals with terrorism, leading to duplication of law.
Brendan Dabhi works with The Indian Express, focusing his comprehensive reporting primarily on Gujarat. He covers the region's most critical social, legal, and administrative sectors, notably specializing at the intersection of health, social justice, and disasters.
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