Bill seeking prevention of proceeding against TADA withdrawn

The legislation should also safeguard the rights of the accused to defend himself, Rao said.

Law Minister Ram Jethmalani said the House had no power to take on judicial functions as all those being tried under the TADA could be tried under normal laws of the land.

He said those accused currently in detention under TADA were charged with involvement in heinous crimes like the Bombay blasts cases.

Rao said review committees set up by the Centre and the states had studied all TADA cases and dropped charges against 23,862 persons who were now being tried under Indian Penal Code. He said over 11,600 persons were released on bail and only 522 persons were currently in detention under TADA.

Withdrawing his bill, Banatwalla said the principle behind it were accepted by both ruling coalition and Opposition members and asked the Government to bring about a legislation to ensure that TADA accused were tried under normal laws.

The Muslim League member said TADA was allowed to lapse because of its "obnoxious" character and it was misused. He said the Act, which had been allowed to lapse in May 1995, was the "darkest spot on the fair name of Indian democracy".

Opposing the bill, Rao said 3619 cases were currently pending under TADA, of which 648 were still under investigation.

Among the cases which were pending probe, as many as 611 were in Assam where 27 persons were under detention. In Jammu and Kashmir, only two cases were pending probe while over 1,000 were in the trial stage.

Earlier, participating in the discussion, a strong plea was made by the opposition for withdrawal of all legal proceedings against the TADA accused, while BJP members sought a strong anti-terrorist legislation to deal with growing militancy backed by Pakistan.