On March 9, Lok Sabha Member Anto Antony asked the Ministry of Home Affairs whether the Government has any statistics regarding the number of cases registered and number of persons arrested under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in the county. In addition to this, he also asked if the Government has any plan to set up fast track courts to handle cases registered under UAPA in each state and union territory.
In a written statement by the Minister of State (Home Affairs) G Kishan Reddy, the state-wise number of cases registered and persons arrested under UAPA during 2015 to 2019 was furnished revealing shocking data.
As many as 1,948 persons were arrested under the UAPA in 1,226 cases registered across the country in 2019. In comparison, the year 2015 saw 897 registered cases and 1,128 arrests. The number of cases stood at 922 in the year 2016. There were 901 in the year 2017 and 1,182 cases in 2018. Whereas, the number of people detained under the draconian law across all States and Union Territories stood at:
999 in 2016
1,554 in 2017
1,421 in 2018.
In 2019, Manipur saw the highest number of cases registered under UAPA and Uttar Pradesh topped the list of arrests at 498. The numbers in Jammu and Kashmir are also worrisome with 227 people placed under detention out of 255 registered cases.
On the issue of fast-track cases, the answer read, “Cases under UAPA are investigated by state police and the National Investigation Agency (NIA). As far as NIA is concerned, so far 48 special courts have been constituted across the country for the speedy trial of terror related cases.”
Procuring bail under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act is difficult as the legislation provides for indefinite detention of the alleged accused if the court is satisfied that the investigation agencies need additional time to investigate terror related crimes.
The Bhima Koregaon violence accused persons, for instance, have been languishing in jail since 2018 under UAPA charges. Recently, a Surat court acquitted as many as 122 people arrested under UAPA for being members of the banned outfit Students’ Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) after 20 long years.
The answer may be read here:
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