Chandigarh: The killing of Maharashtra politician Baba Siddique, allegedly by members of Punjab’s Lawrence Bishnoi gang, has put the spotlight on the long-pending Punjab Control of Organised Crime Act (PCOCA), a stringent law aimed at reining in organised crime in the state.
The contentious law — modelled on the controversial Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) — was first proposed by the Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party (SAD-BJP) government in 2016, but it is yet to see the light of day despite an increase in organised crime in the state.
The proposed law has been pending for years because successive governments feared it will be misused by the police as it gives them additional powers to investigate cases and collect stronger evidence. It also provides for the constitution of special courts to give precedence to the trials of gang-related crimes.
A specialised Punjab Police unit, the Anti-Gangster Task Force (AGTF), made a fresh push for PCOCA in December 2022 after the killing of Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala in May that year. But Punjab Police sources said the state’s new Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann did not warm to the idea. A court in Punjab’s Mansa had in May this year framed charges against jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi and 26 other accused in connection with the Moosewala murder case.
Punjab Police sources say the state desperately needs the tough new legislation as organised crime has shot up since 2016 but the conviction rate remains low as witnesses are afraid to testify against gangsters.
“Apart from Punjab, gangsters are operating in Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and now the latest killing of Mumbai-based politician Siddique traced to Bishnoi shows how far their network has spread,” an AGTF officer told ThePrint, not wanting to be named.
“AGTF teams put their lives at stake to nab gangsters. But after their arrest, another struggle begins to ensure their conviction. Witnesses are scared to stick their necks out against gangsters and, in many cases, even family members of victims refuse to cooperate with police,” the officer added. “Trials carry on for years and gangsters get several opportunities to scare witnesses and, in some cases, even kill them. The result is that the conviction rate of gangsters remains low. Hence the need for an act like MCOCA in Punjab.”
Police believe the provisions of the proposed law will help them take on organised crime in the state.
Under the proposed law, confessions made before a deputy inspector general of police would be admissible as evidence in court. This evidence would be further ratified by an additional director general of police rank officer. Currently, any confession made by an accused before the police is not entertained as evidence in court.
All electronic evidence gathered by police would also be proof valid for at least 10 years. Any officer of the rank of deputy inspector general or above will be able to invoke the provisions of PCOCA after citing why the crime cannot be covered under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), now the Bhartiya Nyaya Samhita (BNS).
The proposed law also empowers courts to hold proceedings on camera and allows the names of witnesses to be kept secret.
It further allows for special courts to be set up for speedy trials, and if an accused booked under PCOCA commits a crime while on bail, they will not be able to apply for bail again. The draft law also allows for detention of the accused without bail for one year.
Increase in organised crime
While PCOCA is still hanging fire, police say the number of gangs and incidents of organised crime in Punjab have shot up.
Punjab had 57 gangs or criminal groups with less than 430 members in 2016, of which 180 were lodged in jails and another 100 were out on bail. Police peg the numbers much higher now based on the fact that they’ve arrested over 1,400 gangsters and busted more than 500 gangster modules in two and a half years.
Police say the nature of crimes has shifted from highway robberies, dacoities and high-paying extortions to cold-blooded murders, radicalised crimes and widespread extortions from even small-time traders, shopkeepers and businessmen.
As organised crime grows, the Punjab and Haryana High Court warned about the threat from the gangster culture in Punjab in a 19 September judgment while rejecting the bail of Kapil alias Ninni, an alleged member of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang accused in a December 2019 murder case.
“Gangster culture, particularly in the form of extortion rackets, has emerged as a significant threat to the social order in today’s time, fostering an environment of fear and lawlessness,” the bench of Justice Harpreet Singh Brar observed. “The glorification of violence, the normalisation of criminal behaviour and the recruitment of vulnerable youth into gangs not only perpetuate crime but also erode public trust in the justice system.”
During the hearing, police informed the court that Kapil was involved in extortion rackets across multiple states and was facing trial in nine criminal cases. He had been convicted in two and acquitted in four cases because nobody dared to depose against him and his gang members, they further told the HC.
This wasn’t the first time the court had come down on organised crime in Punjab.
In 2019, a division bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court while convicting gangster Rakesh Kumar alias Boxer for the 2016 murder of a youth, Pinku, suggested that Punjab and Haryana enact special laws to cope with gangsters.
“We would like to make certain observations about the growing cult of ‘gangsters’ in the states of Punjab and Haryana. In the present case, there were two warring gangs trying to prove their territorial superiority. This ‘gang’ culture promotes strife in the society and is required to be curbed with an iron hand,” the court said in its order.
“Accordingly, we suggest/recommend to the states of Punjab and Haryana to enact special laws for the prevention of, and for coping with, gangsters and anti-social activities, within a period of six months,” the court added.
Long-pending legislation
PCOCA was drafted eight years ago in 2016 when the SAD-BJP combine was ruling the state.
The then DGP Punjab Suresh Arora, the force behind the move, said while mooting the proposal that of the 105 gangsters arrested between 1996 and 2016, only 10 had been convicted.
In most cases, witnesses had retracted their testimony for fear of gangsters or compromises were struck with the complainants. The law, he suggested, would improve the conviction rate for gang-related crimes.
However, PCOCA was not cleared by the cabinet headed by then chief minister Parkash Singh Badal when some ministers raised doubts about the possibility of its misuse as it involved giving additional powers to the police.
When the Congress government came to power and Capt Amarinder Singh became chief minister in 2017, the matter was again taken to the cabinet but it was decided to refer it to a cabinet sub-committee.
The sub-committee headed by then cabinet minister Brahm Mohindra, however, did not give its nod to the Act on the grounds that it was not needed anymore under the “efficient” rule of the Congress unlike the days of the Akalis when gangsters had a free hand.
As a result, the proposed law never saw the light of the day during the Congress regime.
Cracking down on gangs
Meanwhile, the police have intensified their crackdown on Punjab’s gangs in recent years.
The AGTF — created by the AAP government soon after it came to power in March 2022 — has arrested over 1,400 gangsters and busted more than 500 gangster modules so far. As many as 16 gangsters have been killed.
“Till five years ago, nabbing gangsters used to be part of special operations conducted by the police. Now the AGTF engaging with gangsters across the state are in constant battle. We have lost three policemen in this battle and more than two dozen have been injured in the past two-and-a-half years,” said the senior AGTF member quoted earlier.
In the most recent breakthrough against organised crime, the AGTF on 11 October arrested Navjot Singh alias Jota, a key operative of two gangsters based abroad — Paviter in the US and Manjinder in France — and three Rajasthan-based gangsters wanted for a brutal murder in Jodhpur in early October.
Last month, the AGTF foiled a dacoity bid in Bathinda arresting four gangsters including kingpin Jaspreet Singh alias Jassa. In September, Jalandhar rural police arrested seven operatives of the notorious Ankush Bhaiya gang, including kingpin Ankush Sabharwal.
The AGTF also arrested six shooters last month from Aurangabad in Maharashtra who were allegedly responsible for a sensational triple murder in Ferozepur on 3 September.
Three people, including a young girl, were shot dead by six people on two motorcycles in broad daylight near a gurdwara in Ferozepur on 3 September. According to police, the six shooters are close associates of mastermind Ashish Chopra, a fugitive hiding abroad on a fake passport.
As part of its crackdown, the ATGF’s social media analysis unit got more than 200 social media accounts blocked last month after it found them glorifying gangsters and promoting violence.
Despite all their efforts, Punjab Police seem to be fighting a losing battle as Punjab gangsters are always a step ahead.
Apart from the lack of strong laws and legal hurdles, police are also hamstrung by other problems. One hurdle is the gangs aren’t always limited to Punjab but operate interstate networks with gangsters lodged in prisons across Punjab, Delhi, Haryana and Rajasthan.
Lawrence Bishnoi, for instance, lodged in jail since 2014, has been incarcerated in at least six prisons, and is currently in Gujarat’s Sabarmati jail over a cross-border drugs smuggling case. But he is still allegedly directing shooters from prison.
Also, police find it difficult to break entire gang networks because key links and gang leaders are hiding in countries like Canada, the US, Thailand, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Australia.
Implement existing laws efficiently
AGTF officers suggest that in the absence of stringent laws, the provisions of Maharashtra’s MCOCA can be adopted in Punjab.
“The provisions of MCOCA will then be applicable to Punjab as well. This is something that the Delhi government has done leading to a better conviction rate of gangsters there,” said the AGTF officer.
Experts, however, believe the state should implement existing laws effectively instead of bringing in new laws to fight crime.
“The BNS has included a section for organised crime which reduces the need for separate acts to deal with organised crime,” Upneet Lalli, deputy director of the Chandigarh-based Institute of Correctional Administration, told ThePrint.
“I believe that instead of bringing in fresh laws, there is a need to efficiently and effectively implement the existing ones. Also, the media should act responsibly and not glorify gangsters and their crimes. Gangsters end up becoming role models for petty criminals and that is how it spreads,” added Lalli.
Asked about the problems faced by investigative agencies in connection with convictions and witnesses not deposing against gangsters, Lalli said an efficient investigation was the key to conviction.
“Also there is a witness protection scheme for which standard operating procedures have to be put in place and Punjab is yet to do it,” she said.
(Edited by Sugita Katyal)