India's stern message to terrorists: ‘Either go to jail or to hell’

Union minister of state (MoS) for home Nityanand Rai on Wednesday sent a strong message to terrorists, saying they “will either face jail time or meet their demise.”

“Earlier, the terrorists used to be glorified, they were even given great food. But now, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and its zero tolerance towards terrorism, there have been zero terrorist incidents in the hinterland...Terrorists will either go to jail or hell,” ANI quoted Rai as saying during his reply during the question hour in Rajya Sabha on the issue of terrorism.

"The Modi government has a policy of zero-tolerance towards terrorism. The government is taking all steps to end terrorism. As a result, there has been a 71 per cent decrease in terrorist activities," Rai added.

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Rai, in a written reply to Rajya Sabha, said that as of March 12, 2025, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) had registered 652 cases since its inception, and 516 cases had been charge-sheeted.

The NIA has arrested 4232 accused so far, and 625 have been convicted. Out of a total of 157 decided cases, 150 have resulted in convictions, he added.

Rai added that the NIA has been instrumental in combating terrorism, with a conviction rate of 95.54% in cases investigated by the agency.

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‘Conviction rate of NIA probed cases is 95.54%': Rai

"The conviction rate of NIA investigated cases is 95.54 per cent. NIA has seized/attached a total of 551 (movable and immovable) properties under UA(P) Act, worth 116.27 crore rupees," the minister said.

Rai also highlighted the NIA's expanded reach, which includes 21 branch offices across the country, its headquarters in New Delhi, and zonal offices in Guwahati and Jammu.

Prior to 2019, the NIA had eight branch offices. Since then, the Government has opened 13 branch offices and two zonal offices, out of which nine new branch offices and the two zonal offices have been sanctioned and made functional during the last three years only.

Over the last three years, the government created 625 new posts in the NIA, including technical experts and senior officers, he said.

"The NIA has a total of 1901 sanctioned posts at present, out of which 625 posts (including one post of ADG, six posts of IG rank officers and 105 posts of technical experts) have been created during the last three years," he added.