Eighty-one-year-old Fr Stan Swamy, passed away as a pre-trial prisinor in the Bhima Koregaon case, incarcerated under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
As per NCRB data, 5,922 people were arrested under the UAPA between 2016 and 2019. Out of this very large number, there have only been 132 convictions in the four-year period.
The UAPA was introduced in 1967 as a legislation to set out reasonable restrictions on the fundamental freedoms under Article 19 (1) of the Constitution, such as freedom of speech, right to assemble peacefully, and right to form associations.
Over the years, terror-specific legislations like Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) and Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) were repealed, and the UAPA became the primary anti-terror legislation in India.
The provisions of the UAPA have an extremely wide ambit, which makes it possible to use them against even authors, academics, and lawyers.
(Kaafi Real is a series of cartoons on The Quint. You can check out all our other Kaafi Real cartoons here.)
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