NEW DELHI, 23 September 2004 — India’s president has repealed a tough anti-terror law, a government official said yesterday, removing a measure critics say has been misused against Muslims and to settle political scores.
But President Abdul Kalam approved another decree to give more teeth to an older law to deal with terrorism to replace the Prevention of Terrorism Act, which was introduced after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States and a raid on the Indian Parliament three months later.
New York-based Human Rights Watch welcomed New Delhi’s decision saying it was a signal to other countries to fight terrorism without infringing basic human rights.
“As in other countries that have adopted hastily drafted anti-terror legislation after Sept. 11, this law was abused and actually weakened India’s democracy,” Human Rights Watch said in a statement. The Congress-led coalition, which took office in May this year, had promised to repeal the act, which gave security forces powers to arrest, interrogate and detain suspects for 30 days without producing them before a court.
Hundreds of people have been held under the law since then, including many Muslims in the riot-scarred western state of Gujarat. Critics said the law had also been used against government opponents in several states. India still has a host of anti-terror laws, including in the disputed region of Kashmir, which have been abused.
