What is UPCOCA: 10 things to know about it

The bill has been prepared on the lines of the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath (File/PTI)/

LUCKNOW: The Uttar Pradesh Control of Organised Crime Act (UPCOCA) bill was on Tuesday re-introduced in the state Assembly by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. The bill has been prepared on the lines of the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).

• Under the UPCOCA, the accused will not be granted bail for six months from the date of arrest. If found guilty, the offence is punishable by a minimum of three years in jail. The maximum punishment will be life imprisonment.
• As in the case of the MCOCA, the UPCOCA will empower Uttar Pradesh police to intercept wire, electronic or oral communications and present them before a court as evidence against the accused.
• The police will be able to book a person under the UPCOCA only after getting the approval of a two-member committee of the divisional commissioner and deputy inspector-general of the range from where the accused hails.
• The police will have to take the clearance of the inspector-general of the zone before filing a chargesheet against the accused.
• The government will be able to confiscate the property of the accused after taking the consent of a special court constituted to hear UPCOCA cases.
• The government will also constitute an organised crime control authority under the supervision of the principal secretary of the home department to keep a watch on criminal activities in Uttar Pradesh.
• Each district will have organised crime control authorities headed by the district magistrate.
• Earlier this month, the UP government had suffered an embarrassment in the Legislative Council UPCOCA bill could not be passed by the House, where Opposition is in majority. The bill was again sent back to the Assembly, which has already passed it in December last year.
• Both the SP and BSP have opposed the bill and alleged that this law, once enacted, would be misused by the state government.
• The Uttar Pradesh Assembly had passed the UPCOCA during Mayawati's rule in 2008 but then President Pratibha Patil had rejected the stringent law.

(With inputs from The Telegraph Calcutta)