UPCOCA tabled in UP Assembly as BSP demands its rollback

As the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) demanded rollback of the anti-organised crime bill Uttar Pradesh Control of Organised Crime Act (UPCOCA); the government tabled it in the Assembly on Wednesday.

On December 13, the Uttar Pradesh Cabinet passed UPCOCA Bill to curb land and mining mafia and organised crime in the state.

Earlier in the day, BSP supremo former UP Chief Minister Mayawati demanded rollback of the anti-organised crime bill.

"The UPCOCA, made on the lines of MCOCA, will be mostly used for suppression of poor, Dalits, backward classes and religious minorities, so, BSP opposes this new law and demands its rollback in greater interest of the public," Mayawati said.

She further added that under the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led state government the law is being misused on the basis of political hatred, caste and communal partiality.

"The people affiliated with the BJP are lodging false cases against their opponents. False case has been registered against BSP's councilor from Aligarh, who had taken oath in Urdu that is second language after Hindi. If this is not injustice then what is? " asked Mayawati.

She alleged that the Yogi Adityanath government has been targeting people of particular caste and religion in the name of curbing mafia and criminals.

The BSP leader lauded her four stints as Chief Minister and said there was better rule of law in the state during her regime.

She warned that if the government does not stop misusing law then the BSP will be forced to take strict steps.

The UPCOCA has been prepared after studying Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) and similar laws in Gujarat and Karnataka.

Special courts will also be established to deal with the UPCOCA cases.

Even after the bill was passed by the Assembly and the Legislative Council in 2008, the UPCOCA could not be implemented in the state, as the then President Pratibha Patil rejected the proposal of the UP government.