EDITORIAL - Misuse of ‘Goondas’ Act by DMK Government
TN Government is at the receiving end of the court for misusing the ‘Goondas Act.’ The act, titled “Prevention of Dangerous Activities of Bootleggers, Drug Offenders, Goondas, Immoral Traffic Offenders, Forest Offenders, Sand Offenders, Slum-Grabbers and Video Pirates Act,” was enacted in 1982 to penalize the bootleggers, drug offenders, rowdies, traffic norm violators, animal poachers, illegal sand mafia, illegal land grabbers and unlawful video pirates. Unfortunately, ever since its inception, this law has been misused by the ruling parties in Tamil Nadu, particularly, the ruling DMK party has done it on several occasions. The recent arrest of Kishore K. Swamy, a journalist and media activist is the right example. It can be justified at least in the case of ‘Savukku’ Shankar – a notorious loud-mouthed media person who spreads ‘fake news’ on a daily basis. Based on the irrefutable facts, in 2021 alone, the State accounted for 51.2% of all detentions in the country. The numbers appear to only rise with each passing year.
From the above-quoted statistics, it is clear that out of the 517 cases filed challenging the detention under the Goondas Act, the detention order was quashed in 445 cases (86%) and the remaining 14% were cases which had become pointless on account of the detention period coming to an end. In other words, there is not a single case, under the Goondas Act, in the current year before the Madurai Bench where the order of detention has been upheld.
The Madras High Court has also said that it will impose costs on the State whenever a preventive detention order is found to be illegal. Sarcastically, the court, which decided to look into the data on the use of preventive detention in the state, said that ‘for a whole decade, the Tamil Nadu state has occupied an unenviable first place in detaining the maximum number of people under its preventive laws in the entire country. "
It is really pathetic, why none of the human rights activists, the mainstream media and the central Government totally keeping silent on this important issue.
The DMK party should understand sending the dissidents to jail through the Goondas Act won’t solve their problem. On the contrary, it will backfire. The same Goondas Act can be applied to their members once they lose power. It happened in the past. So, TN government should refrain itself from missing the ‘Goondas Act.’ Otherwise, it will be forced to face the wrath of the National Human Rights Commission of India, and the Supreme Court of India.
By
Editor-in-Chief
INSTANEWSGRAM