Maintenance of Internal Security Act

Last updated

Maintenance of Internal Security Act
Emblem of India.svg
Parliament of India
Enacted by Parliament of India
Status: Repealed

The Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) was a controversial law passed by the Indian parliament in 1971 giving the administration of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Indian law enforcement agencies very broad powers indefinite preventive detention of individuals, search and seizure of property without warrants, and wiretapping in the quelling of civil and political disorder in India, as well as countering foreign-inspired sabotage, terrorism, subterfuge and threats to national security. The law was amended several times during the subsequently declared national emergency (19751977) and used for quelling political dissent. Finally it was repealed in 1977, when Indira Gandhi lost the 1977 Indian general election and the Janata Party came to power. [1]

Contents

History

The Act was enacted on July 2, 1971, and replaced the previous ordinance, the "Maintenance of Internal Security Ordinance" promulgated by the President of India on May 7, 1971. The Act was based on the Preventive Detention Act of 1950 (PDA), enacted for a period of a year, before it was extended until December 31, 1969. [2]

The legislation gained infamy for its disregard of legal and constitutional safeguards of civil rights, especially when "going all the way down" on the competition, and during the period of national emergency (19751977) as thousands of innocent people were believed to have been arbitrarily arrested, tortured and in some cases, even forcibly sterilized. [3] [4]

The legislation was also invoked to justify the arrest of Indira Gandhi's political opponents, including the leaders and activists of the opposition Janata Party. In all, during the emergency period of 19751977, some 100,000 people, which included journalists, scholars, activists and opposition politicians were detained without trial for a period of up to 18 months. Some people were even detained for opposing forced sterilization drives or demolition of slums carried out during this period. [1]

The 39th Amendment to the Constitution of India placed MISA in the 9th Schedule to the Constitution, thereby making it totally immune from any judicial review even on the grounds that it contravened the Fundamental Rights which are guaranteed by the Constitution, or violated the Basic Structure.

The law was repealed in 1977 following the election of a Janata Party-led government; the 44th Amendment Act of 1978 similarly removed MISA from the 9th Schedule. [2]

However, other coercive legislation like Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 (AFSPA), the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA, 1968), and economic counterpart of the act, Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act (COFEPOSA) enacted on December 13, 1974 to prevent smuggling and black-marketing in foreign exchange is still enforced. [2] Controversial successors to such legislation include the National Security Act (1980), Terrorism and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA, 19851995), and the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA, 2002), criticized for authorizing excessive powers for the aim of fighting internal and cross-border terrorism and political violence, without safeguards for civil freedoms. [2] [5]

Pension

In the non-Indian National Congress ruled states of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, [6] [7] people detained under Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) and Defence of India Act (DIR) during the 1975-1977 national emergency, get Rs. 15,000 pension per month from the respective state governments. In 2014, the Rajasthan government restarted its pension scheme of Rs. 12,000 per month for 800 enlisted former detainees, first launched under Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje's first term in 2008. The scheme was discontinued in 2009, by Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government. [6] [8]

Detainees

Some notable political leaders imprisoned under Maintenance of Internal Security Act:

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">L. K. Advani</span> 7th Deputy Prime Minister of India

Lal Krishna Advani is an Indian politician who served as the 7th Deputy Prime Minister of India from 2002 to 2004. Advani is one of the co-founders and a senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He is a long time member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, a volunteer organisation. He also served as Minister of Home Affairs in the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government from 1998 to 2004. He was the Leader of the Opposition in the 10th Lok Sabha and 14th Lok Sabha and also the longest serving person of this post. He is widely considered architect of Hindutva politics and was the power centre of BJP in 1990s. He was the Prime Ministerial candidate of BJP in 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Janata Party</span> Indian political party

The Janata Party was a political party that was founded as an amalgam of Indian political parties opposed to the Emergency that was imposed between 1975 and 1977 by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of the Indian National Congress. In the 1977 general election, the party defeated the Congress and Janata leader Morarji Desai became the first non-Congress prime minister in independent modern India's history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vijaya Raje Scindia</span> Rajmata of Gwalior (1919–2001)

Vijaya Raje Scindia, born Lekha Divyeshwari Devi in Nepal and known popularly as the Rajmata of Gwalior in India, was a prominent Indian political personality. In the days of the British Raj, as consort of the last ruling Maharaja of Gwalior, Jivajirao Scindia, she ranked among the highest royal figures of the land. In later life, she became a politician of considerable influence and was elected repeatedly to both houses of the Indian parliament. She was a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Emergency (India)</span> 1975–1977 state of emergency in India under Prime Minister Indira Gandhi

The Emergency in India was a 21-month period from 1975 to 1977 when Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had a state of emergency declared across the country.

The Internal Security Act 1960 was a preventive detention law in force in Malaysia. The legislation was enacted after the Federation of Malaya gained independence from Britain in 1957. The ISA allows for detention without trial or criminal charges under limited, legally defined circumstances. On 15 September 2011, the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Najib Razak said that this legislation will be repealed and replaced by two new laws. The ISA was replaced and repealed by the Security Offences Act 2012 which has been passed by Parliament and given the royal assent on 18 June 2012. The Act came into force on 31 July 2012.

Preventive detention is an imprisonment that is putatively justified for non-punitive purposes, most often to prevent (further) criminal acts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Madhu Limaye</span>

Madhu Limaye, full name: Madhukar Ramchandra Limaye, was an Indian socialist essayist and activist, particularly active in the 1970s. A follower of Ram Manohar Lohia and a fellow-traveller of George Fernandes, he was active in the Janata government that gained power at the Centre following the Emergency. He, with Raj Narain and Krishan Kant was also responsible for the collapse of the Morarji Desai-led Janata government installed by that coalition, by insisting that no member of the Janata Party could simultaneously be a member of an alternative social or political organisation. This attack on dual membership was directed specifically at members of the Janata Party who had been members of the Jan Sangh, and continued to be members of the right-wing Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the Jan Sangh's ideological parent. The issue led to fall of the Janata government in 1979, and the destruction of the Janata coalition.

Administrative detention is arrest and detention of individuals by the state without trial. A number of jurisdictions claim that it is done for security reasons. Many countries claim to use administrative detention as a means to combat terrorism or rebellion, to control illegal immigration, or to otherwise protect the ruling regime.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raj Narain</span> Indian freedom fighter and politician

Raj Narain was an Indian freedom fighter and politician. He won in a famous electoral malpractice case against the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, which led to her disqualification and imposition of Emergency in India in 1975. He defeated Indira Gandhi during the 1977 Lok Sabha elections.

Shah Commission was a commission of inquiry appointed by Government of India in 1977 to inquire into all the excesses committed in the Indian Emergency. It was headed by Justice J.C. Shah, a former chief Justice of India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hans Raj Khanna</span> Indian judge

Hans Raj Khanna was an Indian judge, jurist and advocate who propounded the basic structure doctrine in 1973 and attempted to uphold civil liberties during the time of Emergency in India in a lone dissenting judgement in 1976. He entered the Indian judiciary in 1952 as an Additional District and Sessions Judge and subsequently was elevated as a judge to the Supreme Court of India in 1971 where he continued till his resignation in 1977.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Internal Security Act (Singapore)</span> Statute of the Parliament of Singapore

The Internal Security Act 1960 (ISA) of Singapore is a statute that grants the executive power to enforce preventive detention, prevent subversion, suppress organized violence against persons and property, and do other things incidental to the internal security of Singapore. The present Act was originally enacted by the Parliament of Malaysia as the Internal Security Act 1960, and extended to Singapore on 16 September 1963 when Singapore was a state of the Federation of Malaysia.

COFEPOSA or the Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act is an Act of Parliament passed in 1974 during administration of Indira Gandhi, trying to retain foreign currency and prevent smuggling. It was an economic adjunct to the controversial Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) which was enacted in 1971. Though MISA was repealed in 1978, this law is still in force. COFEPOSA Act 1974 prescribes that the appropriate government shall establish advisory boards to assist the government on matters related to the detention of persons and prepare reports regarding the same. According to this section, the appropriate Government shall form an advisory board to perform the functions mentioned in clauses (4)(a) and (7)(c) of Article 22.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Defence of India Act 1915</span>

The Defence of India Act 1915, also referred to as the Defence of India Regulations Act, was an emergency criminal law enacted by the Governor-General of India in 1915 with the intention of curtailing the nationalist and revolutionary activities during and in the aftermath of the First World War. It was similar to the British Defence of the Realm Acts, and granted the Executive very wide powers of preventive detention, internment without trial, restriction of writing, speech, and of movement. However, unlike the English law which was limited to persons of hostile associations or origin, the Defence of India act could be applied to any subject of the King, and was used to an overwhelming extent against Indians. The passage of the act was supported unanimously by the non-official Indian members in the Viceroy's legislative council, and was seen as necessary to protect against British India from subversive nationalist violence. The act was first applied during the First Lahore Conspiracy trial in the aftermath of the failed Ghadar Conspiracy of 1915, and was instrumental in crushing the Ghadr movement in Punjab and the Anushilan Samiti in Bengal. However its widespread and indiscriminate use in stifling genuine political discourse made it deeply unpopular, and became increasingly reviled within India. The extension of the law in the form of the Rowlatt Act after the end of World War I was opposed unanimously by the non-official Indian members of the Viceroy's council. It became a flashpoint of political discontent and nationalist agitation, culminating in the Rowlatt Satyagraha. The act was re-enacted during World War II as Defence of India act 1939. Independent India retained the law in a number of amended forms, which have seen use in proclaimed states of national emergency including Sino-Indian War, Bangladesh crisis, The Emergency of 1975 and subsequently the Punjab insurgency.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jayantilal Chhotalal Shah</span> 12th Chief Justice of India

Jayantilal Chhotalal Shah was the twelfth Chief Justice of India from 17 December 1970 until his retirement on 21 January 1971. He was born in Ahmedabad.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Security Act (India)</span> Act of the Parliament of India

The National Security Act of 1980 is an act of the Indian Parliament promulgated on 23 September 1980 whose purpose is "to provide for preventive detention in certain cases and for matters connected therewith". The act extends to the whole of India. It Contains 18 sections. This act empowers the Central Government and State Governments to detain a person to prevent him/her from acting in any manner prejudicial to the security of India, the relations of India with foreign countries, the maintenance of public order, or the maintenance of supplies and services essential to the community it is necessary so to do. The act also gives power to the governments to detain a foreigner in a view to regulate his presence or expel from the country. The act was passed in 1980 during the Indira Gandhi Government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Premiership of Morarji Desai</span> Period of the Indian government from 1977 to 1979

The premiership of Morarji Desai extended from 24 March 1977 to 15 July 1979. In the 1977 Indian general election Morarji Desai led the Janata Party to victory against the Congress party. Upon taking office, Morarji Desai became the first Indian Prime Minister not belonging to the Congress party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bharatiya Janata Party, Rajasthan</span> Indian political party

Bharatiya Janata Party, Rajasthan is a state unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Rajasthan. Chandra Prakash Joshi is the current president of the BJP Rajasthan. Vasundhara Raje was the previous Chief Minister of Rajasthan during 2013–2018, previously she served in the same post from 2003 to 2008. She was the first female Chief Minister of Rajasthan. And the former president of the BJP Rajasthan.

Ram Dhan was an Indian politician and freedom fighter. He represented Lalganj in Lok Sabha a number of times. Ram Dhan was arrested on the night when Emergency was declared by Indira Gandhi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act, 1978</span> Preventive detention law in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir

The Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act, 1978 (PSA) is a preventive detention law under which a person is taken into custody to prevent them from acting harmfully against "the security of the state or the maintenance of the public order" in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. Whereas PSA applies only to Jammu and Kashmir, it is very similar to the National Security Act that is used by the central and other state governments of India for preventive detention.

References

  1. 1 2 Ganguly, Sumit; Diamond, Larry; Plattner, Marc F. (13 August 2007). The State of India's Democracy. JHU Press. pp. 130–. ISBN   978-0-8018-8791-8.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Harding, Andrew; Hatchard, John (1993). Preventive Detention and Security Law: A Comparative Survey. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. pp. 61–. ISBN   0-7923-2432-3.
  3. Saxena, Priti (1 January 2007). Preventive Detention and Human Rights. Deep & Deep Publications. pp. 99–. ISBN   978-81-7629-992-3.
  4. Current Trends in Indian Politics. Deep & Deep Publications. 1 January 1998. pp. 115–. ISBN   978-81-7100-798-1.
  5. Singh, Ujjwal Kumar (6 January 2009). Human Rights and Peace: Ideas, Laws, Institutions and Movements. SAGE Publications. pp. 246–. ISBN   978-81-7829-884-9.
  6. 1 2 "Raje re-launches pension scheme for MISA and DIR detainees". The Hindu. 1 March 2014. Retrieved 29 May 2014.
  7. "Misa detainees to get monthly pension in Chhattisgarh". The Telegraph. 24 May 2008. Archived from the original on 29 May 2014. Retrieved 29 May 2014.
  8. "Monthly pension to detainees under Maintenance of Internal Security Act". The Times of India . 4 January 2014. Retrieved 29 May 2014.
  9. "'Vajpayee was in Bengaluru prison during Emergency'". Business Standard India. 16 August 2018.
  10. "Stalin files nomination papers, set to become DMK president". The Economic Times.