Gandhinagar: The Gujarat assembly on Wednesday unanimously passed the Gujarat Control of Terrorism and Organized Crime (Amendment) Bill, 2026, aligning its provisions with the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).Explaining the need for amendments in the Act, minister Arjun Modhwadia said the original Act was introduced by the state govt in 2015, and it contained provisions against both terrorism and organized crime.“However, since the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita now includes stringent anti-terrorism provisions, the state govt has amended the Gujarat law to remove provisions related to ‘terrorist acts’ and focus it solely on ‘organized crime’, with the objective of preventing duplication of investigation,” the minister said. He added that while Section 113 of the BNS clearly defines terrorist acts, the Indian Penal Code did not explicitly mention terrorism.“The central govt repealed the Indian Penal Code (IPC) of 1860 and replaced it with Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023. In this new central law, ‘terrorist acts’ (Section 113) have been incorporated as a direct part of the national penal code, which were not separately available in the IPC earlier),” he said.He added that through the amendment bill, legal references such as the Code of Criminal Procedure will be replaced to ensure the implementation of the new Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023.
