Govt notifies amendments, NIA can probe cases abroad

New Delhi, August 2

With the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) notifying the amendments to the NIA Act and the same coming into effect, the central anti-terror probe agency is now empowered to probe cases abroad. The latest amendments to the NIA Act will allow the agency to probe terror activities against Indians and Indian interests abroad, cyber crimes and cases of human trafficking.

“In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (2) of section 1 of the National Investigation Agency (Amendment) Act, 2019 (16 of 2019), the central government hereby appoints August 2, 2019, the date on which the provisions of the said Act shall come into force,” the notification said.

The UPA government had enacted the NIA law, creating the anti-terror probe agency in 2009. This had happened a year after the Mumbai terror attacks that claimed 166 lives.

The amendments will enable the NIA to additionally probe offences related to human trafficking, counterfeit currency, manufacture or sale of prohibited arms, cyber terrorism and offences under the Explosive Substances Act, 1908. To adjudicate such cases, the amended law provides for creation of a special court in New Delhi. — TNS