NEW DELHI, Dec 19: Amnesty International on Wednesday advised India’s parliament to throw out a severe new anti-terror law, stressing it would lead to rights abuses rather than accord protection against attacks like that on parliament last week, says a press release.

The Indian government was vainly trying to table the Prevention of Terrorism Bill (POTB) at the time of Thursday’s suicide attack on the parliament complex in New Delhi by terrorists.

The Amnesty appealed to the opposition not to allow the bill to be passed on the grounds that its provisions are too draconian.

The legislation seeks to curb funding to suspected terrorist groups, confiscate their property and intercept their communications. It also gives police and paramilitary forces far-reaching powers of search and arrest. “A vote in favour of the POTB is a vote which does away with legal safeguards designed to prevent innocent persons from being prosecuted and punished,” the London-based human rights organization in e-mail message said. “The POTB does not fully uphold the fundamental principles set out in the Indian constitution or legal safeguards for suspects contained in international human rights standards, nor does it ensure that human rights abusers on all sides will be brought to justice,” Amnesty said.

The legislation has to be passed by both houses of parliament or it will lapse on Friday.

The Indian cabinet has already bowed to opposition pressure by agreeing to major changes in the legislation, including curtailing its operational period from five to three years.

The cabinet also recommended the deletion of a provision affecting the freedom of the press.

The bill is currently enforceable in the form of an ordinance, and Amnesty pointed out that in the first case of its implementation, an entire family was evicted from their house in occupied Kashmir which it was wrongly suspected to have built from the “proceeds of terrorism”.

“The protection of civil liberties and the strengthening of the criminal justice system are the only lasting and effective answers to violent opposition in the country,” Amnesty said. “POTB does not address any of these issues.”

The Amnesty said several provisions in the bill risked facilitating torture and introduced obstacles to the right to a confidential communication between an accused and his or her legal adviser, the release concluded.—APP