RANCHI, June 11 (UNI) Jharkhand, the nascent Eastern state carved out of 18 districts of Bihar, has earned the dubious distinction of registering the highest number of POTA arrests since the draconian law was enacted in June 2002.
According to the official sources, 234 people have been arrested in the state while human rights activists put the figure at a whopping 3,200.
Records reveal that the youngest terrorist arrested under POTA is Gaya Singh, 12, and the oldest is Rajnath Mahato, 81, both from Jharkhand.
However, cases against both of them were withdrawn by the Arjun Munda government here last evening along with 143 others.
Jammu and Kashmir, which has been plagued by terrorism, follows closely with 181 arrests.
Records reveal that other states where arrests have been made under POTA are Gujarat (83), Delhi (44), Maharashtra (42), Tamil Nadu (41), Andhra Pradesh (40), uttarU Pradesh (28), Sikkim (6), and Himachal Pradesh (3).
But human rights activists, who have been following up on POTA cases, say the official figures are unreliable.
The confederation of human rights organisations in one of its report says, "The union home ministry does not have the total figure of POTA arrests across the country because many state governments have not sent their figures." Now, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government at the centre has made it clear that it is against POTA and if party sources are to be believed plans are afoot to scrap it.
Activists say there are teenage girls languishing under POTA in jails across Jharkhand.
One such case is that of 14-year-old Mayanti Rajkumari, who left for school on July 9, 2002, and never returned home.
Later her father was told that she had been arrested and charged under POTA.
Fortune has finally smiled on the family as Rajkumari was one of the 145 detenues against whom POTA has been withdrawn by the Jharkhand government last evening.
A resident of Pandrani village in Gumla district, Rajkumari was a seventh standard student and police picked her up while she was on her way back home.
The next morning police informed the family that Rajkumari had been arrested along with 24 others for allegedly planning to attack a dhaba 18 Km away from her school.
All of them, including Rajkumari, were booked under POTA.
Human rights activists say there are cases where the detenues have been granted bail by the courts, but they continue to be in jails because their families are too poor to furnish their bonds.
Most of these arrests have been made in Ranchi, Hazaribagh, Palamu, Chatra and Gumla districts.
Ever since the Prevention Of Terrorism Act, came into force in June 2002, the law was billed as India's boldest initiative to combat terrorism, disband terror outfits, and choke their funding.
But 22 months down the line, human rights activists and the opposition parties claim that the law has become a veritable tool to terrorise innocents rather than combating terror.
