UAPA act

Why in news?

• Delhi High court severely criticised the Delhi Police in a case of UAPA recently.

What is UAPA act?

• The UAPA, 1967 was created to prevent unlawful activities that may cause harm to the integrity and sovereignty of the government.
• The act has been amended in 2008, in 2012 and in 2019.
• Its main objective of the Act is to empower central agencies and states to deal with terrorist activities.
• The Act makes it a crime to support any secessionist movement or to support claims by a foreign power to what India claims as its territory.
• Section 15  of the law engrafts the offence of 'terrorist act', Section 17 lays down the punishment for raising funds for committing a terrorist act and Section 18 engrafts the offence of 'punishment for conspiracy etc. to commit a terrorist act or any act preparatory to commit a terrorist act'.

What is the problems associated with the law?

• Under UAPA, investigative agencies get 180 days to probe a case, compared to 60-90 days under ordinary criminal law. This means an accused is eligible to apply for bail only after six months.
• As a law that deals with terrorism, the UAPA has a stringent provision under Section 43 D(5) that bars the courts from awarding bail if, from a perusal of the case diary or the chargesheet, there are reasonable grounds to believe that the accusations against a person is prima facie true.
• Until 2019, the police needed to establish that those arrested in UAPA cases were members of banned organisations to secure a conviction in a court of law. However this was done away with in 2019.

What were the 2019 amendments?

• The 2019 amendment Unlawful Activities Prevention Amendment (UAPA) allowed governments to designate an individual as a “terrorist”, which was passed by the Parliament in 2019.
• The Bill empowered the Centre to designate an individual a “terrorist” if they are found committing, preparing for, promoting or involved in an act of terror.
• A law already allowed for organisations to be designated as a “terrorist organisation”.
• But an amendment made in July that year has enabled the government to designate any individual as a “terrorist”, bypassing the need to establish membership or association with banned groups.

Prelims Question

Consider the following statements regarding “UAPA” act:
1.Crimes under UAPA can be probed only by central agencies.
2.A person must be a member of a terrorist organisation to be convicted under the law.
Which among the above statements is/are correct?
(a)1 only 
(b)2 only 
(c)Both 1 and 2
(d)Neither 1 nor 2

Answer to prelims question