Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act

Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act is an Indian law aimed at prevention of unlawful activities associations in India. Its main objective was to make powers available for dealing with activities directed against the integrity and sovereignty of India. The most recent amendment of the law, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Act, 2019 (UAPA 2019) has made it possible for the Union Government to designate individuals as terrorists with due process of law. UAPA is also known as the Anti-terror law.

The National Integration Council appointed a Committee on National Integration and Regionalisation to look into the aspect of putting reasonable restrictions in the interests of the sovereignty and integrity of India. The agenda of the NIC limited itself to communalism, casteism and regionalism and not terrorism.[2] Pursuant to the acceptance of recommendations of the committee, the Constitution (Sixteenth Amendment) Act, 1963 was enacted to impose, by law, reasonable restrictions in the interests of the sovereignty and integrity of India. In 2019, the BJP led NDA government claimed that in order to implement the provisions of 1963 Act, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Bill was introduced in the Parliament.[3]

United Nations special rapporteurs stated that the provisions of the UAPA 2019, contravenes several articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.[4] The opposition parties in India called the UAPA a draconian anti-terror law. BBC has reported that people arrested and charged with UAPA find it harder to get bail.

Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Act, 2019

The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Bill, 2019 was introduced in Lok Sabha by the Minister of Home Affairs, Amit Shah, on 8 July 2019. The Bill amends the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967. The Act provides special procedures to deal with terrorist activities, among other things. The act was passed in the Lok Sabha on 24 July and Rajya Sabha on 2 August. It received the assent of the president on 8 August.

PRS Legislative Research explained the act below:

Who may commit terrorism: Under the Act, the central government may designate an organisation as a terrorist organisation if it:

(i) commits or participates in acts of terrorism,

(ii) prepares for terrorism,

(iii) promotes terrorism, or

(iv) is otherwise involved in terrorism.

The Bill additionally empowers the government to designate individuals as terrorists on the same grounds.

Approval for seizure of property by NIA: Under the Act, an investigating officer is required to obtain the prior approval of the Director General of Police to seize properties that may be connected with terrorism. The Bill adds that if the investigation is conducted by an officer of the National Investigation Agency (NIA), the approval of the Director General of NIA would be required for seizure of such property.

Investigation by NIA: Under the Act, investigation of cases may be conducted by officers of the rank of Deputy Superintendent or Assistant Commissioner of Police or above. The Bill additionally empowers the officers of the NIA, of the rank of Inspector or above, to investigate cases.

Insertion to schedule of treaties: The Act defines terrorist acts to include acts committed within the scope of any of the treaties listed in a schedule to the Act. The Schedule lists nine treaties, including the Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings (1997), and the Convention against Taking of Hostages (1979). The Bill also adds another treaty to the list. This is the International Convention for Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism (2005)

Criticism

UAPA is criticized for its low conviction rate, which is around 2%. According to the data shared by the Union Government, in the period 2016 to 2020, 5,027 cases were registered under the act with 24,134 people accused in those cases. Only 212 of 24,134 people were convicted and 386 were acquitted. This means, in the years 2016-2020, 97.5% of the people arrested under UAPA remain under prison awaiting for trial.

In July 2019 while introducing the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Bill, 2019 the BJP led Union Government claimed that the bill would give it power to probe terror attacks on India, the Opposition parties in the Lok Sabha termed it draconian. The Opposition claimed that the Bill did not contain any provisions to prevent misuse. Specifically, the power to designate an individual as a terrorist before being proven guilty by trial, was criticised.Critics of the UAPA consider the definitions of "terrorist", "like to threaten" and "likely to strike terror" to be very broad and open to misuse by the police as the burden of proof of innocence is on the accused.The example of Gaur Chakraborty among others is cited wherein he spent 7 years in prison during trial only to be acquitted of all charges, wherein the imprisonment during trial itself amounted to punishment.

In 2020, United Nations special rapporteurs stated that the provisions of the UAPA 2019, contravenes several articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Lawyer Rongeet Poddar wrote in the Oxford Human Rights Hub, that UAPA 2019 has made it possible for the Union Government to designate individuals as terrorists without a due process of law. He wrote, "Neither the Amendment Bill nor the parent statute provides a concrete definition of terrorism. This opens a Pandora's box. Categorization as a 'terrorist' by the executive bears serious consequences, such as social boycott or loss of employment." Such labeling by the executive could lead to mob lynching by the vigilante groups in India. Calling it a "colourable legislation which bears the potential for abuse by the executive", he noted that the constitutionality of the act should be contested. He wrote, the UAPA 2019 "echoes laws made under the colonial regime to crush the freedom movement in the garb of ensuring public order.

On 25 July 2021, Justice Aftab Alam, former Supreme Court judge spoke on a webinar titled "Discussion On Democracy, Dissent and Draconian Law – Should UAPA & Sedition Have A Place In Our Statute Books?". In the discussion, he called UAPA a "draconian law" and said that it was the UAPA that caused the death of Father Stan Swamy without a trial. Stan Swamy was an activist that was charged with UAPA for his alleged role in the 2018 Bhima Koregaon violence and links to the Communist Party of India (Maoist) and later died in prison due to COVID-19.[21] Alam further stated that UAPA has a realistic conviction rate of 2%. He further stated that this law can lead to situations where case may fail but the accused would have been incarcerated for 8 to 12 years. He said in such cases, the case may have no legs to stand on but the accused has suffered and he concluded that in such cases the process becomes the punishment.

While the misuse of the law has been constantly debated, Police was also criticized for not invoking UAPA in some cases like the Haridwar hate speech case.

On 20 January 2022, BBC called the UAPA a draconian anti-terror law and reported that many protestors and journalists were arrested detained or charged with UAPA. UAPA had made it harder for the accused to get bail. PM Narendra Modi led BJP Union Government has been accused of misusing UAPA to stifle dissent and target minorities in India.