Special Crime Control Act on anvil to check dreaded criminals in the State.

Pioneer News Service | Bhubaneswar:

Criminals be aware! The Orissa Government will soon come up with a Special Crime Control Act to check top-rated criminals and criminal activities in the State.

The decision of the State Home Department assumes significance following gangsters and criminals keeping policemen on their toes in several sensational murder and extortion cases. "The Act will be drafted on the lines of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA)," highly placed Home Department sources said on Thursday. The sources said the draft of the proposed Act is being prepared.
Under the proposed Act, which is likely to be introduced in the next session of the State Assembly, confession of a criminal before the police could be considered as evidence. Besides, it would also have provisions to accept telephonic conversations between criminals as evidence, which could help in conviction, the sources said. "The law will also have provisions of awarding death," the sources informed.

Under the Act, all the witnesses could be provided security that would encourage people to come up with evidences against criminals. Now, due to lack of such a facility, no one dares to stand as witness against the criminals. "We require a stringent law to deal with the criminals as gangsters like Raja Acharya, Sheikh Hyder, Anil Chhotray, Minja, Tito and some others," a top cop told The Pioneer.
He pointed out that with huge amount of money in their hands, the criminals could now easily manage to get bail by paying handsome amounts to lawyers due to non-existence of tough laws. This apart, the present criminals are different from their predecessors because they are educated and have some knowledge of law, he added. "Unless you bring a stringent law, you cannot win them," the top cop reasoned.