Safe From Terror, Drugs, Trafficking and Riots

The plan

1. Terrorism. One Act for every group and ideology:
   • Committing, planning, funding or recruiting for a terror act: life imprisonment without remission. Where it causes death: death or life, as UAPA already allows, only after full trial and High Court confirmation.
   • Funding is punished exactly like committing the act.
   • Trials run in the Chapter 26 special courts and finish within 90 days of the charge-sheet.
2. Drug trafficking.
   • Trafficking a commercial quantity: a minimum of 20 years (up from 10 today). Organisers, cross-border smugglers and repeat offenders: life without remission. The death penalty for repeat commercial trafficking stays where NDPS Section 31A already provides it, as a judge's choice.
   • Selling to minors or within 500 m of a school: double the sentence.
   • Diverting pharmaceutical drugs into the illegal market: the same penalties, plus loss of the drug licence for life.
   • AI-assisted scanning of 100% of containers at every major port and integrated land check post within 1 year.
3. Drug users get treatment, not jail. Anyone found with a small quantity for personal use goes to a 90-day treatment programme instead of prison, and the record is cleared on completion. Anyone who comes forward for treatment is immune from prosecution (NDPS Section 64A, widened). The same rule applies to every user. Dealers face full penalties whatever quantity they hold.
4. Human trafficking.
   • A minimum of 20 years; child trafficking and organised rings: life without remission.
   • Victims are never prosecuted. They get shelter, the Chapter 23 cash transfer and the skills track.
   • Every placement and recruitment agency, domestic or overseas, self-registers on the Business ID and posts a ₹25 lakh bond, returned after 3 years without an upheld complaint. Every worker it places is paid against their PAN (Chapter 7), so no one disappears off the books.
5. Follow the money (terror, drugs and trafficking).
   • With no cash (Chapter 2), the Financial Intelligence Unit's AI flags suspect payment patterns in real time.
   • Assets of the accused, including benami holdings in relatives' names, are provisionally attached within 30 days of the charge-sheet, forfeited on conviction and released with interest on acquittal.
   • Informers get 10% of forfeited assets, up to ₹1 crore, with identity protected.
   • Witness protection in every case, and full use of extradition treaties.
6. No mercy after conviction. For every offence under this Act:
   • No plea bargain, probation or reduced charge for a guilty plea (plea bargaining is already barred for offences carrying more than 7 years; the Act keeps it so).
   • No remission, commutation, parole, furlough or early release by any government; mandatory minimum sentences that no court may go below.
   • Life means the rest of the convict's natural life.
   • The Chapter 28 amendment limits the pardon powers of the President and Governors (Articles 72 and 161) for these offences to one ground: fresh evidence of innocence, examined by a High Court bench within 90 days.
   • Fair trial stays whole before conviction: a lawyer, full disclosure of evidence, and an automatic High Court appeal decided within 90 days, as in every Chapter 26 special court.
   • Every whole-life sentence follows the Chapter 6 route: the trial court recommends it and the High Court confirms it in that same appeal.
7. Communal violence: a new offence. One national rule for every religion, caste and language group, under criminal law (Concurrent List, entry 1), carried in its own Communal Violence (Prevention and Punishment) Bill:

• Online incitement that is followed by violence within 7 days is treated as incitement.

8. Rioters pay. Every convicted rioter and organiser is jointly liable for all damage. Assets are provisionally attached within 30 days of the charge-sheet and released with interest on acquittal. Victims are paid from a state fund within 30 days of the damage assessment, and the fund recovers the money from those convicted.
9. 90-day riot trials. Cases go to the Chapter 26 special courts, with a 90-day clock from charge-sheet, video evidence from body cameras, CCTV and phones, and witness protection from the first statement.
10. Police accountability for riots. If a riot is not brought under control within 24 hours, the district Superintendent of Police and District Magistrate are suspended pending an inquiry decided within 30 days. Any officer who stands by while violence happens is prosecuted for abetment.

Cost and return

• Return: forfeited assets fund victim support, treatment and informer rewards; any surplus goes to the Consolidated Fund of India.
• Return from peace: riots destroy investment in the places they hit. Credible punishment and fast payouts protect jobs, shops and property values in those areas.

Timeline

First 30 days: table the Terror, Narcotics and Trafficking (Zero Tolerance) Bill; notify the special courts and the 90-day clocks; publish the scanner specification and price; open the agency bond registry. Table the Communal Violence (Prevention and Punishment) Bill; notify its 90-day clock; set up the victim fund; publish the police response-time standard.

Within 1 year: the law in force; every new case tried within 90 days of charge-sheet; 100% scanning at every major port and integrated check post; certified treatment centres in every district; every new riot case tried within 90 days of charge-sheet; police response times published live in every district.

Outcomes after year 1: scanning extended to every minor port and land customs station.

Guardrails

• Detention: charge-sheet within 90 days of arrest, with one 60-day extension only by the High Court (Chapter 26); bail as of right after that.
• Surveillance: only with a warrant from a designated High Court judge, decided within 24 hours.
• Arrest review: a magistrate reviews every arrest under this Act within 15 days.
• False cases: an officer who knowingly files a false case faces up to 7 years in jail. The wrongly accused gets ₹1 lakh for each month in custody, paid within 30 days.
• Data: NCRB publishes arrests, charge-sheets, convictions and acquittals under this Act by state every quarter.
• Same rule for every group: NCRB publishes riot cases every quarter by the group of victims and accused, so even-handed enforcement is visible.
• Due process in riot cases: sentences only after a full trial; automatic appeals to the High Court decided within 90 days, as in every Chapter 26 special court.
• No collective punishment: liability is personal and based on evidence. No home or shop is demolished as punishment; any demolition follows the Supreme Court's November 2024 directions on prior notice and a hearing.
• Response time: police reach any reported communal clash within 30 minutes in cities and 60 minutes elsewhere; times are published live.
• Fair to officers: an SP or DM who met the published response times and deployment rules is reinstated within 30 days.

Limits to know

The pardon powers in Articles 72 and 161 can be narrowed only by the Chapter 28 amendment, and courts can still review how they are used (Epuru Sudhakar, 2006); until then, the no-release rule binds every government's statutory remission and parole powers. Detention without trial beyond constitutional limits and punishment without a full trial would breach Article 21 and are not proposed. Likewise, a mandatory life term for everyone present at a riot, whatever their role, would fail the proportionality test under Article 21 and is not proposed; sentences rise with each person's proven role.

Sources: UAPA 2018 to 2022: 252 convictions, The Wire · NDPS Act 1985, Sections 21, 31A, 64A and Chapter VA · Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967, Sections 16 and 43D · Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023, Section 143 · Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 2023, Chapter XXIII (plea bargaining) · Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2002, Section 5 · Swamy Shraddananda v. State of Karnataka (2008) · Union of India v. V. Sriharan (2015) · Mithu v. State of Punjab (1983) · Epuru Sudhakar v. Government of Andhra Pradesh (2006) · Italy, Law 646/1982 (Rognoni-La Torre) · Portugal, Law 30/2000 · CSSS: 84% rise in communal riots in 2024, Scroll · CSSS: 59 riots in 2024, up from 32 in 2023, Free Press Journal · NCRB communal rioting data, data.gov.in · Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023, Sections 103(2), 191 and 196 · In re Destruction of Public and Private Properties v. State of Andhra Pradesh (2009) · In re Directions in the Matter of Demolition of Structures (Supreme Court, 13 November 2024) · Uttar Pradesh Recovery of Damage to Public and Private Property Act 2020 · Haryana Recovery of Damages to Property during Disturbance to Public Order Act 2021 · National Investigation Agency Act 2008