Centre against any stringent laws; UPCOCA in trouble

Lucknow, Sep 1 (UNI) Union Minister of State for Home Shriprakash Jaiswal today said the Centre was against any stringent law to be enacted by the state governments and hinted that the new law proposed by the Uttar Pradesh Government to nail the criminals -- Uttar Pradesh Control on Organised Crime Act (UPCOCA) -- has been rejected.

''State implemented stringent law to control the rising crimes, but in longer run it might create several problems, the way it was being witnessed in North East states and in Jammu and Kashmir,'' Mr Jaiswal said.

Talking to mediapersons, the minister said the Centre had already rejected a similar law by the Gujarat government under the special Arms Power Act and such would be the fate with the Mayawati's government new UPCOCA.

UPCOCA was passed by the state legislature in March last and State Governor T V Rajeswar had sent it for President's approval as it was related with the Central Acts.

Saying that giving more power to the security forces always create problems, Mr Jaiswal admitted that regular use of Central forces to control agitation and crimes was certainly earning a bad name for the forces.

He also defended withdrawal of searching powers of the SSB by the UP government.

''If UP government can control everything on the Indo-Nepal border then where is the problem,'' he remarked.

Reiterating his demand for the CBI probe into the Kanpur blast, in which two Bajrang Dal activists were killed, he said though his plea was rejected by the UP CM, still such probe could have unearthed a conspiracy hatched by the communal forces just before the elections in five states and the Lok Sabha polls.

''I think now the UP police and the STF should go in detail and find out the inter state links of the Kanpur blast,'' he said.

Talking about the fake currency racket, Mr Jaiswal said the intelligence agencies, state police and the banks should be more vigilant in tracing the conspiracy hatched by the international smugglers.

''This type of racket is an indirect war against the country to destablise our economy,'' he claimed, while adding that a 'Federal Agency' to counter such menace was always required in the country though it had been opposed by the state governments.

The Union Minister also congratulated the people of Jammu and Kashmir for resolving the Amarnath Shrine Board issue and said it was the handiwork of the BJP.

UNI MB JAS SK UCS1954