The best way to prevent crime is to ensure that the criminal cannot get away free after committing one. That is why 'prevention' and 'detection' of crime are linked together while ascribing the responsibilities of the Police. The Indian Penal Code, the Criminal Procedure Code and the Indian Evidence Act introduced by the British in the latter half of the nineteenth century were adequate to handle the crimes that were committed till the late 20th century.

Terrorism, as it is practised today, is a totally new phenomenon. The Sri Lankan terrorist group, LTTE, has used terrorism as a means to achieve strategic goals through their Black Tigers. They eliminated political leaders like Ranjan Wijeratne, Rajiv Gandhi, and Ranasinghe Premadasa, and almost succeeded in eliminating Chandrika Kumaratunge. Going around as a liberation organization, they were able to deny their involvement in terrorist attacks as their suicide bombers would also perish in the attacks. The LTTE has not been able to recover lost ground after their role in the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi was established beyond doubt by the Indian police. Provisions of the TADA, especially those that gave 60 days police remand to interrogate and investigate suspects and accused, those that made confessions before police officers of and above the rank of Superintendent of Police admissible in the court, and those that gave the police up to a year to file the charge sheet, came handy during the investigations.

Islamist terrorism on the other hand, has an all-India canvass to operate. With ISI modules in different Indian cities available for support and operation, and easy access to materials required for preparing improvised explosive devices, these terrorists, including their Indian supporters, are always ready for the next attack. Indian security analysts have been, time and again, referring to the fact that Indian Muslim youth have not been attracted to the jihadi culture due to the expansive and inclusive nature of our democratic polity. With the arrival of the Indian Mujahideen, we can no longer make such claims.

Each time an attack takes place, a 'red alert' is sounded in Delhi and other metros but, after a few days, things are back to 'normal.' The terrorist waits for the next signal from his Master, and then strikes, once again catching the Indian police napping! It is in this context that the demand for a federal investigating agency to investigate terrorist cases, and a more stringent law to deal with terrorism, is gaining ground. With the all-India reach of Islamist terrorists, and with its command centre outside India, it is essential to have an all-India perspective of their modus operandi, motivations, linkages and support base, to successfully prevent such attacks and solve them if they do materialise.

A central investigating agency should be created by law and provided resources for a comprehensive database of all operations, the operatives, their personal dossiers with photographs, support structures, style of operation, contacts, voice samples, and most important, evidence of their involvement in such crimes. They will have a pool of expert investigators, familiar with the trademarks of these terrorists, who would know where to look for them. Interrogation of associates of terrorists and suspects would have given the investigators the various escape routes they take after committing the crimes. Evidence from a crime scene provides the most vital clues for solving a crime. The investigators would pounce on the scene in no time without having to wait for the consent or request of the state government, and will identify, locate and collect all the available evidence from the scene. All this will help in successfully investigating the case. Police agencies from Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Hyderabad and Lucknow are all working disjointedly today in working out different terrorist attacks in their cities, allowing the terrorists to take advantage of the lack of coordination and communication between them.

While the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, 1967, has been amended to include terrorist offences, including funding of terrorists, the earlier TADA and POTA gave the investigators sixty days of police remand to enable thorough interrogation of the suspects and accused, and up to one year to file the police report in the court against 15 days police remand and 90 days for filing the police report now. Such provisions are absent in the law available to the investigators today. Considering the motivations of the Islamists, and their commitment and support base, it is necessary to have more time in police custody and for filing a police report.

To deal with terrorists, the police need special powers. Even though it may be true that these have often been misused in the past, the solution lies in developing checks against these and not to deny the legitimate means to stop the scourge of terrorism in the country today.