By IANS,
New Delhi : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Tuesday said that the Supreme Court judgment that mere membership of a banned outfit was not a crime has serious implications for the country’s sovereignty. It also favoured a review of the verdict.
BJP leader Arun Jaitley supported the government’s decision to seek a review of the verdict and said it could also think of clarificatory legislation if the verdict was not reviewed.
“The Supreme Court judgment saying that mere membership of a banned organisation is not an offence has serious implications for India’s sovereignty. This judgement, if allowed to stand, will remove the entire pressure which has been built on insurgent banned groups,” Jaitley said here.
He said an implication of this verdict would be that in case of each arrest, specific acts would have to be proved and would also have an impact on banned groups which have joined the negotiating table.
“The government has rightly said it will seek a review of the judgment. If not reviewed, the government must consider clarificatory legislation which explicitly states that membership of a banned group is an offence,” Jaitley said.
The Supreme Court had ruled last week that members of banned organisations could not be treated as criminals by police till they indulged in or incited violence.