MPDA, a new weapon for post-TADA cops

MUMBAI, November 9: Frustrated by the abrogation of sterner laws like Terrorist And Disruptive Activities TADA act and under pressure to ...

MUMBAI, November 9: Frustrated by the abrogation of sterner laws like Terrorist And Disruptive Activities TADA act and under pressure to halt encounters, the city police have now dusted the cobwebs off a scarcely used act called MPDA.

8220;MPDA will now be used more frequently. It will be applicable only in those cases where National Security Act NSA cannot be applied,8221; admitted joint commissioner of police, crime, Ranjit Singh Sharma.

Promulgated in 1981, the Maharashtra Prevention of Dangerous Activities of Slumlords, Bootleggers and Drug Offenders, MPDA for short, was not of much use then because of its limited purview. But last year the act was amended to include dangerous persons8217;, a definition open to interpretation.

According to Sharma the law defines a dangerous person as the one who is capable of inflicting body harm and property damage as mentioned in chapter 16 and 17 of the Indian Penal Code. The other advantage of the MPDA is that while a person arrested under IPC provisions can obtain bail, a detainee under MPDA cannot resort to bail and has to challenge the act in court. And court proceedings can take take long, happily admits a senior police official. The Mumbai police has already trotted up lists of dangerous elements for detention under the act. 8220;About 40 proposals for using MPDA are pending with us from all over the city,8221; additional commissioner of police, crime, Shiv Prasad Singh Yadav confirmed.

While the police commissioner8217;s office has received more than 70 proposals for arresting criminals under MPDA, commissioner Ronnie Mendonca has reportedly returned over 30 proposals to the local police stations for correcting the technical lacunae.

In fact a glance at the statistics too reveal police8217;s increasing dependence on the act. In 1996, only 19 persons were detained under MPDA and 234 persons detained under NSA. This year only 23 men were detained under NSA while more than 86 men were detained under MPDA.

Arun Gawli8217;s arrest under MPDA is a case in point. Arrested under NSA in May this year, Gawli was let off after HC passed strictures against city police. Gawli was finally detained under MPDA after builder Natwarlal Desai8217;s murder over two months ago. Rajiv Rai8217;s assailants arrested under IPC charges of attempted murder were let off on bail on October 10. On October 30, Mumbai police detained all three assailants under MPDA and sent them off to Nashik jail. Other MPDA detenues include 15 rapists and 37 extortionists.

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Reeling under a general feeling of helplessness and frustration after abolition of TADA early last year, senior cops complained about absence of a sweeping deterrent law to instill fear in the minds of the criminals. 8220;The criminals are afraid of either TADA or encounters. Presently we have nothing to curb crime effectively,8221; says an IPS officer on the condition of anonymity. But Mendonca is not too upbeat. 8220;There are no such plans and no such list,8221; he said. 8220;We have detained only 15 men.8221;