Prevention of Terrorism Act, 2002

rdf:langString Prevention of Terrorism Act, 2002

rdf:langString Prevention of Terrorism Act, 2003

rdf:langString India

rdf:langString Joint session of Parliament

rdf:langString An Act to make provisions for the prevention of, and for dealing with, the terrorist activities and for matters connected therewith.

rdf:langString Prevention of Terrorism Act, 2002

rdf:langString repealed

rdf:langString The Prevention of Terrorism Act, 2002 (POTA) was an Act passed by the Parliament of India in 2002, with the objective of strengthening anti-terrorism operations. The Act was enacted due to several terrorist attacks that were being carried out in India and especially in response to the attack on the Parliament. The Act replaced the Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance (POTO) of 2001 and the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) (1985–1995), and was supported by the governing National Democratic Alliance. The Act was repealed in 2004 by the United Progressive Alliance coalition. The bill was defeated in the Rajya Sabha (the upper house) by a 113–98 vote, but was passed in a joint session (425 Ayes and 296 Noes), as the Lok Sabha (lower house) has more seats. It was only the third time that a bill was passed by a joint session of both houses of Parliament. The Act defined what constituted a "terrorist act" and who a "terrorist" was, and granted special powers to the investigating authorities described under the Act. In order to ensure that discretionary powers granted to the investigating agencies were not misused and human rights violations were not committed, specific safeguards were built into the Act.