Contrary to the views held by his predecessor Justice J.S. Verma, newly-appointed Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Justice A.S. Anand today said that the controversial POTA did have provisions to safeguard against its misuse. He, however, added that these provisions were not enough.‘‘There are apprehensions that POTA can be misused. Any law can be misused. What we have to see is whether there is an in-built mechanism to safeguard the Act from being misused. It has,’’ Anand said after assuming charge as NHRC chairman.Justice Verma had held the belief that there were enough laws to combat terrorism and there was no need for POTA which could be misused.Emphasising that no civilised country could allow terrorism to flourish, Justice Anand said: ‘‘But one has to differentiate between a criminal and a terrorist. While all terrorists are criminals, it does not necessarily mean that all criminals are terrorists.’’Describing the problem of illegal migrants as ‘‘very serious’’, the former Chief Justice of India said the Government will have to take necessary steps to push them out of the country. However, he refused to comment on the issue of Bagladeshi migrants, saying ‘‘the policy of governments needs to be studied before commenting and I have not done it so far.’’Asked what his strategy on Gujarat will be, he said he will carry forward whatever has been left over. ‘‘I will go through the records in the case and do whatever is left.’’
