As per a notification issued on January 10th 2020, Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor (LG) Anil Baijal has sought to implement the National Security Act (NSA) in the national capital for three months, starting January 19th.
This move grants the power of emergency detention to the Delhi Police, which means an individual can be detained if the authorities feel s/he is a threat to national security, and law and order. The detention can last for months.
As this report explains: “In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (3) of section 3, read with clause (c) of Section 2 of the National Security Act, 1980, the Lt Governor is pleased to direct that during the period January 19 to April 18, the Delhi Police Commissioner may also exercise the powers of detaining authority under sub-section (2) of the section 3 of the aforesaid Act, the notification stated.”
Even as the Delhi police states it is a routine order that is usually issued in every quarter, many feel it is meant to deal with the numerous protests in the capital against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC).
All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi has alleged that the Central government has empowered the Delhi Police to detain under the National Security Act (NSA), while DMK MP Kanimozhi took to Twitter to ask, “Why is the Government so intolerant and afraid of dissent and protest?”