More than 19000 arrested under TADA in 17 years

SRINAGAR, Jan 27: Nineteen thousands and sixty persons have been arrested under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) in 17 years from 1990-2007 in Kashmir. According to the police records, the largest numbers of such arrests have been made in 1992 with 2677 persons arrested under TADA substantive law, while least of the same were made in 2001, which recorded 92 such arrests. The number of arrests under TADA have witnessed declining trend from 1996 onwards.In the year 1990, 2360 persons were arrested under TADA, in 1991, 2449 persons were detained under this law. In 1993, 2004 were arrested, 2126 in 1994, 2200 in 1995, in 1996, 475 persons were arrested. Two hundred and ninety four persons were arrested under TADA in 1997,457 persons in 1998, 417 persons in 1999, 322 persons in 2000, 92 persons in 2001, 165 persons in 2002, 607 persons in 2003, 453 persons in 2004, 726 in 2005, 874 in 2006 and 362 persons in 2007. Originally enacted in 1985, the act was amended in 1987 and made applicable to the state of Jammu and Kashmir shortly after its initial passage. It has been since widely used in Kashmir against persons suspected of links with militant groups and against persons who are perceived to be opponents of central government’s policy in the state. The act as amended authorises the administrative detention without formal charges or trial up to one year. Under TADA anyone who knowingly facilitates commission of any disruptive activity or any act preparatory to a disruptive activity shall be punishable with imprisonment which shall not be less than three years in term but which may extend to the term of life time and shall also be liable to fine. Under TADA, a person may be detained upto one year prior to being charged. This lengthy periods of detention before trial however violates Article 9 of international covenant which provides that anyone arrested or detained under criminal charge shall be brought prominently before a judge or other officer authored by law to exercise judicial power and shall be entitled to trail within a reasonable time or to release”Nevertheless, this black law has been used to perpetuate human rights violations in the valley since more than two decades now.“There is no doubt that it is a black law. Firstly, the victim can be detained without trial. Additionally, the police officer has the authority with regard to the statements of the victim which many a times are misleading,” said Advocate Gowhar.He added that in TADA, the police officer records the statements of victims confession and the same statements are presented before the court which otherwise does not happen in other criminal cases“Because of this, it is sometimes seen that there are inaccuracies and incoherence in the statements. These statements sometimes are different from the writte