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UAPA & Other Laws

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UAPA & Other Laws Contents Against the Very Idea of Justice, UAPA & Other Laws Introduction 1. A Look at Repressive Laws in India 05 2. UAPA: A Brief History 42 3. Statistics: Increasing Arrests & Little Convictions 49 4. The Victims 52 5. A Law Contradicting with Indian Constitution 66 6. Need of the Hour: A United Effort 78 1. A Look at Repressive Laws in India In India, several unconstitutional laws repress its citizens1 . Indian lawmaking bodies have made, and continue to make, laws that neglect the fundamental rights of the citizens. Some laws have even blatantly violated those rights. The list of such laws, passed by both the parliament and the state legislatures, is not small. Let's have a quick look at those extraordinary, unconstitutional Indian laws (except the UAPA, which is discussed in detail later): 1.1. Sedition law (Section 124A of Indian Penal Code, 1860) 1.2. Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 1.3. National Security Act, 1980 1.4. Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, 1987 (Amended in 1989, 1993) 1.5. Prevention of Terrorism Act, 2002 1.6. Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 1.7. The National Investigation Agency Act, 2008 1.8. Jammu & Kashmir Public Safety Act, 1978 Widespread misuse and contempt for human rights make these laws connected with each other. While some national-level anti-terror laws, like the UAPA, directly attacked the human rights of the citizens, 1https://www.epw.in/engage/article/indias-unforgivable-laws 05 Against the Very Idea of Justice the AFSPA, a law active only in a few states, did the same with giving chilling impunity to armed forces involved in different forms of violence, including extrajudicial killings. There have been several cases of rights violation related to these laws, which have been invoked against innocent civilians, human rights activists, religious minorities and other marginalised communities, government critics and others. 06 Against the Very Idea of Justice There have been aws not only within the wordings and draft of these laws but also in how the law-enforcement agencies and courts behave while handling cases under these laws. Judicial trial of most of these cases lasts for several years, even as the accused languish in jails. Some laws, like the AFSPA, also prevent even the beginning of the trials. The AFSPA has caused widespread human right abuses in places like Jammu & Kashmir and Assam2 , with members of the armed forces, accused of different crimes like murder and rape, enjoying greater impunity3 . A recent report said that the central government refused to approve even a single recommendation in the last 20 years, during which the J&K government sent 50 2https://www.livemint.com/Politics/CcFJoIMR39wtQwiIoIfi3O/Jammu--Kashmir- tops-list-on-rights-abuses-under-AFSPA-Assa.html 3https://thewire.in/rights/cic-jammu-and-kashmir-afspa 07 Against the Very Idea of Justice requests for prosecution sanction against the members of armed forces, under the AFSPA law4 . Yes, not in a single case out of 50 recommended by the state government. While tens of thousands of innocent people have been jailed in the country under various draconian laws, the conviction rates of these laws are incredibly low - be it UAPA5 , Sedition6 , POTA7 or TADA8 . These low rates further prove the veracity of the misuse of these laws. The issue is even more serious because those who suffer most due to these abuses are members of the marginalised communities. The Centre recently informed 4https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/in-20-years-centre-denied- prosecution-sanction-under-afspa-in-all-cases-recommen/307132 5https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/22-of-cases-registered-under-the-uapa- from-2016-2019-ended-in-court-conviction/article33804099.ece 6https://www.business-standard.com/multimedia/video-gallery/general/1- conviction-rate-in-140-sedition-cases-in-6-years-rajya-sabha-mp-120179.htm 7https://www.epw.in/journal/2003/29/commentary/pota-freedom-terrorise.html 8https://www.barandbench.com/columns/the-cases-that-india-forgot-how-tada- legitimised-police-excesses-as-the-supreme-court-stood-by-silently 08 Against the Very Idea of Justice the parliament that more than 65 per cent of the prisoners9 in the country belong to Dalits, Adivasis and Other Backward Classes. 3,15,409 jail inmates in the country, out of the total 4,78,600, belong to these social groups. Most of these unconstitutional laws were designed with protectionist rhetoric against threats that, in many instances, did n o t exist. But, as noted by one EPW article10 , what these laws served was to protect the ruling dispensation's ability to bypass the fundamental rights of the citizens. “There is a need to conceptualise these laws in terms of what they purportedly combat, and what they actually combat,” the article said. 9https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/3-15-lakh-or-65- 90-prison-inmates-from-sc-st-obc-categories-govt-data/articleshow/80787575.cms 10https://www.epw.in/engage/article/indias-unforgivable-laws 09 Against the Very Idea of Justice 10 Against the Very Idea of Justice 1.1. Sedition law (Section 124A of Indian Penal Code, 1860) Section 124Aof Indian Penal Code (IPC), which deals with 'sedition', is perhaps the oldest among Indian laws that are being widely criticised for their nature as well as for misuse. Many got jailed under this law for committing the 'crime' of criticising the government of the day. Those who were arrested under the sedition law include university students11 , political leaders12 , journalists13 , young environmentalists14 , and even parents and teachers of young artists15 . Curiously, the list of those who were 'convicted' under this law in pre-independent India even has some of the great names in modern India, like Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Annie Besant, Bal Gangadhar Tilak etc. There is a particularly dangerous pattern in how this law is being (mis)used against government critics, as identical police cases are being charged against the 11https://thewire.in/rights/my-impressions-of-the-sedition-accused-students-of-jnu 12https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/national/opposition-condemns- sedition-case-against-tharoor-journalists/article33693891.ece 13https://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-farms-protests-journalists- idUSKBN2A11I8 14https://indianexpress.com/article/india/disha-ravi-bail-hearing-greta-thuberg- toolkit-case-farmers-protest-delhi-police-7197022/ 15https://scroll.in/latest/953180/karnataka-sedition-case-parent-and-teacher- granted-bail-after-two-weeks-in-jail-over-anti-caa-play 11 Against the Very Idea of Justice accused in different states. This is what JNU researcher Sharjeel Imam1 6 , politician Shashi Tharoor, and several journalists17 had to face recently. Several human rights bodies18 , news organisations19 , legal experts20 and even senior judges21 demanded to reform or repeal this law. Perhaps the last in the list of prominent gures who demand the repeal of this law is Justice Deepak Gupta, a recently retired judge of the Supreme Court. Justice Gupta said that the sedition law should be “immediately abolished”.22 He said the law is being used by governments to create fear in the citizenry. The former SC judge also opined that the law is widely misused. 1860 1958 1978 1980 1987-93 2002 2008 1969-2019 Sedition AFSPA J&K Public NSA TADA POTA NIA UAPA Law Safety Repressive Laws in India 16https://thewire.in/rights/sharjeel-imam-sedition-charges 17https://indianexpress.com/article/india/sedition-firs-against-tharoor-journalists- now-in-five-states-7168390/ 18https://www.hrw.org/news/2011/01/05/india-repeal-sedition-law 19https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/Repeal-the-sedition- law/article14691554.ece 20https://frontline.thehindu.com/the-nation/article30913046.ece 21https://www.thestatesman.com/opinion/repeal-sedition-law-128201.html 22https://thewire.in/government/watch-karan-thapar-justice-deepak-gupta- supreme-court-sedition-disha-ravi 12 Against the Very Idea of Justice Sedition law is being widely misused to silence political critics. A research carried out by 'Article 14' revealed that 405 Indians were booked for sedition over the last decade, only because they criticised politicians and governments23 . Notably, 96% of these sedition cases were registered after 2014. W h i l e 149 persons were booked for making “critical” and/or “derogatory” remarks against Modi, 144 others faced the charge for criticising the UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath. Most of the cases in which the sedition law has been invoked also violate a landmark Supreme Court judgment on the use of this law. A Constitution Bench of the SC, in the Kedarnath vs State of Bihar case in 196224 , famously ruled that only those acts which involve incitement to violence or violence itself, constitute a seditious act25 . Under the sedition law, anyone whose expression brings “hatred or contempt towards the government” shall be punished26 . The section says the same provision will apply to those who excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards the government. The word 23https://www.article-14.com/post/our-new-database-reveals-rise-in-sedition-cases- in-the-modi-era 24https://indiankanoon.org/doc/111867/ 25https://thewire.in/law/sedition-challenged-in-supreme-court 26https://indiankanoon.org/doc/1641007/#:~:text=%E2%80%94Whoever%2C%20 by%20words%2C%20either,be%20punished%20with%20104%20%5Bimprisonm ent 13 Against the Very Idea of Justice 'disaffection' includes “disloyalty and all feelings of enmity”, according to the law. However, the section further says that comments criticising the government “without exciting or attempting to excite hatred, contempt or disaffection” is not an offence under this section. Critics of this law point out how the law is being interpreted conveniently by the people in power and being used to target dissenting voices. 14 Against the Very Idea of Justice 1.2.
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