Explained: Weapons of Mass Destruction and their Delivery Systems Amendment Bill, 2022

New Delhi, Apr 05: A Bill to amend the Weapons of Mass Destruction and their Delivery Systems (Prohibition of Unlawful Activities) Act, 2005 has been listed for introduction in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday as per the list of business for the House.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will introduce The Weapons of Mass Destruction and their Delivery Systems (Prohibition of Unlawful Activities) Amendment Bill, 2022, which will amend the 2005 Act.

What changes with the Amendment Bill

The new legislation prohibits the financing of such weapons. The 2005 Act only prohibited the manufacturing of weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems.

The Act was enacted in June 2005 and provides for an integrated and overarching legislation on prohibiting unlawful activities in relation to weapons of mass destruction, their delivery systems and related materials, equipment and technologies.

The Act criminalises a range of unlawful activities in relation to weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery. It prohibits any person not duly authorised by the Central Government to deal with weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery.

Specifically the Act prohibits:

• Unlawful manufacture, acquisition, possession, development, transportation of a nuclear explosive device or a nuclear weapon and their means of delivery (Section 8(1)).
• Unlawful transfer (either directly or indirectly) to any one a nuclear weapon or other nuclear explosive device or transfer control over such a weapon (Section 8(2)).
• Unlawful manufacture, acquisition, possession, development, or transport of a chemical or biological weapon or their means of delivery. Unlawful transfer to anyone of a chemical or biological weapons (Sections 8(3) & (4)).
• Unlawful transfer to anyone missiles specially designed for the delivery of weapons of mass destruction. (Section 8(5)). In the context of the above, the prohibition on transfer applies to a terrorist or non-State actors.
• The Act makes it a severe criminal offence to transfer weapons of mass destruction, missiles specially designed for their delivery, and WMD-usable materials, equipment and technologies; or to transfer fissile or radioactive material for use in terrorist acts. (Sections 8 & 9).
• The Act also prohibits transfer, acquisition, possession or transport of fissile or radioactive material for use in terrorist acts. (Source: United Nations BWC National Implementation Database (NID))

Weapons of mass destruction (WMD)

Section 4(p) of the WMD Act defines a weapon of mass destruction as a comprehensive term given to a class of weapons incorporating nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. In general terms, WMD can be defined as those weapons which are extremely dangerous and have a potential of exterminating a large chunk of the population.

As per Section 4(h) of the WMD Act, nuclear weapons or devices are those which are categorized as having nuclear capabilities and recognized by the Government of India. However, in general, these machinery and weapons use the process of nuclear fission in order to facilitate an explosion.

Chemical weapons are defined negatively under Section 4(c) of the WMD Act and stipulate that all the toxic substances except those listed for the purpose of industrial, agricultural, research, medical and pharmaceutical, other protective and military purposes and for the objective of law enforcement. Chemical weapons also include such munitions or devices that have been manufactured with the intent of causing death or other harms. Examples of chemical weapons include tear gases, nerve gases etc.

The final category of weapons counted as WMD are biological weapons, defined under Section 4(a) of the WMD Act. All those biological or microbial agents or toxins, irrespective of their source or method of production, for purposes other than prophylactic, protective or other peaceful purposes and such devices or weapons that facilitate or use these agents or toxins in situations of armed conflict or similar situations are categorized under biological weapons.

Punishment for unauthorised export

(1) Any person who knowingly contravenes, abets or attempts to contravene, the provisions of sub-section (4) of section 13 of this Act, shall be punishable with fine which shall not be less than three lakh rupees and which may extend to twenty lakh rupees.

(2) If any person is again convicted of the same offence under sub-section (1), then he shall be punishable for the second and every subsequent offence with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than six months but which may extend to five years and shall also be liable to fine.

Offences and penalties

Any person who contravenes, or attempts to contravene or abets, the provisions of section 8 or section 10 of this Act, shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than five years but which may extend to imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to fine.