In response to questions raised by Dr Vishnu Prasad and TN Prathapan about convictions and arrests under UAPA, the Ministry of Home Affairs provided significant data which showed a disturbing trend that even juveniles above 12 years of age have been apprehended under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
The Ministry of Home Affairs has also told the Lok Sabha on December 13, during the winter session that religion wise data of persons arrested and convicted under the UAPA is not maintained separately.
NIA Courts
The MHA said that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) also investigates some of the UAPA cases which are assigned to it. Currently there are 49 special NIA Courts across the country for the speedy trial of terror related cases. Further, the appointment of Judges of NIA Special Courts is now made by designation as against hitherto practice of appointment by name.
The two other questions asked were:
“(f) the number of people who were released after not proving the charges against them during the last ten years, State and age-wise; and
(g) whether the Government has any compensation mechanism if anybody is framed falsely and if so, the details thereof?”
However, in response the MHA it does not maintain data regarding duration of investigation and that there are adequate constitutional and institutional safeguards to prevent misuse of the law.
Juveniles apprehended under UAPA
As per the data provided, from 2019-2021, a total of 19 juveniles (under 18 years of age) were detained under the UAPA. In 2019, Arunachal Pradesh (1), Assam (2), Madhya Pradesh (1) and Tamil Nadu (2) were the states were juveniles were apprehended. All juvenile thus apprehended were above 12 years of age. In the year 2020, Assam (1), Manipur(1) and Punjab (1) each had one juvenile under detention under UAPA and Jammu and Kashmir had two juveniles under detention.
Further, in 2021, Manipur had 1 juvenile under detention while Jammu & Kashmir had detained 7 juveniles between age group 16-18 years under UAPA.
Conviction rate under UAPA
In 2019, a total of 34 persons were convicted under UAPA while 1,948 were arrested. The maximum arrests were in Uttar Pradesh (498) followed by Manipur (386) and Tamil Nadu (308). Many States including Goa, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tripura, Uttarakhand, and even West Bengal and Maharashtra had no arrests under UAPA in 2019.
Further, Jammu and Kashmir recorded 227 arrests in the year 2019 with no convictions at all.
Out of the 34 convictions, half were in Jharkhand and half were in Uttar Pradesh.
In 2020, a total of 1,321 person were arrested under UAPA while 80 were convicted. The maximum arrests were recorded, once again, in UP (361) followed by Manipur (225). Jammu & Kashmir recorded 346 arrests with only 2 convictions that year.
In 2021, UP once again topped the number of recorded arrest under UAPA with 321 arrests followed by Assam (189) and closely followed by Manipur (188). On the other hand, Jammu and Kashmir recorded a whopping 645 arrests under UAPA with no convictions at all.
In the last 3 years 2019-2021, the rate of conviction when compared to the number of arrests is a mere 3.59%.
In this data there is a clear trend that Uttar Pradesh and Manipur have constantly reported high arrests under UAPA and Jammu and Kashmir has an abysmal conviction rate, with only 2 conviction in 3 years.
The MHA answer to Lok Sabha dated December 13, 2022 may be read here:
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