Repeal UAPA – Page 2 – free them all

Press Release: India Behind Bars – The Cost Of Free Speech

06/10/2022 Asha

by AILAJ (Oct 8, 2022):
AILAJ co-organised ‘India Behind Bars’ press conference in the Press Club of India with
@AISA_tweets and @ryaindia. Hundreds of students, teachers, activists and concerned citizens of Delhi joined us.

By AISA (Oct 8, 2022):
Despite heavy rains, students, citizens of Delhi flooded the Press Club of India in solidarity with different political prisoners incarcerated under acts like UAPA, PSA, NIA etc. #FreeAllPoliticalPrisoners #IndiaBehindBars

Recording by Millat Times: India Behind Bars: The Cost Of Free Speech (Excerpt)

En/Hindi/Urdu | 30min | 2022
Watch video

click to enlarge posters

by Akash (Oct 6, 2022):
To quote Com. Ravi Rai @ravirai2015: “Those behind bars spoke up for us, it’s time for us to speak up for them.” #DelhiPogrom #bhimakoregaon
Join the Press Conference on 8 October at the Press Club.
#FreeAllPoliticalPrisoners #RepealUAPA

by AILAJ_HQ (Oct 5, 2022)
Join us on 8th Oct at 4 p.m. at the Press Club of India, New Delhi for a press conference on India Behind Bars: The Cost of Free Speech where we demand the scrapping of draconian laws and release of political prisoners.

click to enlarge poster

#ReleaseAllPoliticalPrisoners

click to enlarge posters

Also read:

Report: UAPA – CRIMINALISING DISSENT AND STATE TERROR (PUCL / Sep 2022)
Download report

PUCL Report: UAPA – CRIMINALISING DISSENT AND STATE TERROR (#RepealUAPA campaign)

30/09/2022 Asha

PUCL Report: UAPA – CRIMINALISING DISSENT AND STATE TERROR (#RepealUAPA campaign)

28/09/2022

By V. Suresh, Madhura SB and Lekshmi Sujatha (PUCL)

Study of UAPA Abuse in India, 2009 – 2022
Published: Sep 28, 2022
41 pages
PUCL’s study on the use and abuse of UAPA covering the period between 2009 and 2022, with special emphasis on the NIA. A first in the series of a larger collaborative work as part of #RepealUAPA campaign.
Download report

PUCL report alleges abuse of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act

02/10/2022

The Hindu / by The Hindu Bureau

Report by the People’s Union for Civil Liberties says ‘suo motu power’ by Centre to transfer investigation from the State police was a ‘serious threat to federalism’
The People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) has released a report titled ‘UAPA: Criminalising Dissent and State Terror’ on the alleged abuse of the legislation during 2009-22, and demanding the law be repealed.
Read more

97.2% of UAPA accused jailed for long periods and eventually acquitted, study finds

02/10/2022

The News Minute / by Jahnavi Reddy

The PUCL study found that 8,371 persons were arrested under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act between 2015 and 2020, while only 235 were convicted under the draconian anti-terror law in the same period.
A total of 8,371 persons were arrested in 5,924 cases under the draconian Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) across India between 2015 and 2020, according to a report by the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), which sheds light on the Union government’s alleged abuse of the anti-terror law and calls to repeal it. In the same period, however, only 235 persons were convicted under the UAPA.
Read more

Draconian UAPA provisions challenged in the SC [read petition] / SC to hear plea on Oct 18

27/09/2022 Asha

Draconian UAPA provisions, constitutionality challenged in the SC [read petition]

28/09/2022

Sabrang India / by Tanya Arora

The most recent challenge to the UA(P)A is a petition filed that makes the case that vague language and arbitrary provisions violate allow governments to abuse powers and violate the fundamental rights of the citizens
The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, is being challenged in court as having “manifestly arbitrary” provisions and a very broad definition of “unlawful activity” that has a stifling impact on free expression. The Supreme Court, that first took up the matter September 26, 2022 will hear the matter on October 18.
… The petition argues that the UAPA’s provisions are “arbitrary and perverse, since they represent a condemnation of all democratic expression,” and that governments are abusing them “to target any and all kinds of dissent.” The petition was filed through attorney Rahul Bhatia.
Read more

Supreme Court to hear plea challenging UAPA on October 18

27/09/2022

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

The petitioner has argued that the law is being misused by the government as a political tool to target all forms of dissent.
The Supreme Court on Monday said it will hear a petition challenging the constitutional validity of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act on October 18, Live Law reported.
Under the stringent provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, investigation agencies get 180 days to probe a case, as against 60-90 days under ordinary criminal law.
… Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, Siddiqui Kappan and Stan Swamy are some of the activists who have been accused under the draconian law.
Read more

Prisoners of Conscience Under Modi Regime

25/09/2022 Asha

By Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation

Since the BJP’s rise to power in 2014, the list of people -ranging from human rights activists to lawyers, and journalists to students – being persecuted for their identity and their fidelity to fighting for democratic and progressive rights, has grown rapidly. Starting from the arrests related to Bhima Koregaon in 2018 and protests against CAA in 2020 to the recent arrests of activist Teesta Setalvad and journalist Mohammad Zubair, the current regime is bent on imprisoning any person who speaks uncomfortable truths and exposes their lies.
Read full statemnt

Click to enlarge

Also visit:

● Prisoners of Conscience in India. The Prisoners of Conscience in India (PoCI) documents and highlights the cases of people who have been imprisoned in India because of their peaceful expression of political, religious, or other conscientiously held beliefs.

On courts and the tenability of the case / “When Will Trial Start?”: SC asks NIA

12/08/2022 Asha

Just in case: On courts and the tenability of the Bhima Koregaon case

12/08/2022

The Hindu / by Editorial

It is time the tenability of the Bhima Koregaon case was examined by courts.
The grant of bail to the 82-year-old Telugu poet and activist, Varavara Rao, on medical grounds is a welcome relief to at least one of those arraigned in the controversial Bhima-Koregaon case under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
Read more

Punishing process: Supreme Court bail for Varavara Rao again raises questions for the justice system

11/08/2022

Times of India / by TOI Edit

In granting permanent medical bail to Varavara Rao, the Supreme Court has made it clear that stringent restrictions against bail in laws like UAPA don’t hinder constitutional courts from protecting fundamental rights. Last year, SC had relied on this principle to uphold bail to a UAPA accused – arguing that his incarceration for over five years while the trial crawled on was unjustified. But Rao’s bail, granted on technical grounds – medical condition, advanced age, adherence to bail conditions, delay in framing charges – doesn’t answer any of the larger questions confronting the justice system.
Read more

“When Will Trial Start?”, “How Will Letters Be Proved?”, Supreme Court Asks NIA In Bhima Koregaon Case

10/08/2022

Live Law / by Livelaw News Network

While hearing Varavara Rao’s bail application, the Supreme Court on Wednesday posed a host of queries to the National Investigation Agency on the Bhima Koregaon case, in which the agency has kept in custody several persons from academic-activist backgrounds on UAPA charges over alleged links with banned Maoist organization.
Read more

Andhra Pradesh: Social activists demand repeal of UAPA

31/07/2022 Asha

The Hindu / by Special Correspondent

Activists under the banner of the UAPA Repeal Agitation Committee(URAC) urged Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana to direct the Centre to repeal the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
… Speaking on the occasion, Organisation for Protection of Democratic Rights (OPDR) State president Ch. Sudhakar contended that the Act had been misused against activists in the Bhima Koregaon case.
Read more

Also read:
● UAPA Case Data Suggests That Process Is Indeed the Punishment (The Wire / July 2022)

Activists press for repeal of UAPA / UAPA Case Data Suggests That Process Is Indeed the Punishment

20/07/2022 Asha

Andhra Pradesh: Activists press for repeal of UAPA

20/07/2022

The Hindu / by Special Correspondent

‘Its provisions being misused to muzzle voices of those who opposed atrocities against people of weaker sections’
Activists under the banner of the UAPA Repeal Agitation Committee staged a demonstration in front of the Prakasam Bhavan here on Tuesday demanding the repeal of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
Leading the protest, Organisation for Protection of Democracy(OPDR) State president Ch. Sudhakar contended that the Act, misused to slap cases against activists in the Bhima Koregaon case, was more draconian than the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities(prevention) ACT(TADA), and urged the Supreme Court to give a direction to the Centre for its repeal.
Read more

UAPA Case Data Suggests That Process Is Indeed the Punishment

20/07/2022

The Wire / by The Wire Staff

Data revealed by the Union home ministry in the Rajya Sabha showed that 97.5% of people arrested under UAPA between 2016 and 2020 have been imprisoned for multiple years while waiting for trial.
Figures released by the Union home ministry in the Rajya Sabha have backed up the belief that the ‘process is the punishment‘, especially when cases are registered under the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
Read more

Also watch:

Repeal UAPA – Persecution by Prosecution (PUCL, Jan 2021)

Three Day consultation
► Repeal UAPA – Day One (video: en + … | 2h 17min)
► Repeal UAPA – Day Two (video: en +… | 2h 22min)
► Repeal UAPA – Day Three (video: en + … | 2h 51min)

In Umar Khalid’s Bail Appeal, a Ray of Hope for UAPA Cases?

02/06/2022 Asha

The Quint / by Vakasha Schdev

While the SC’s Watali judgment is cited to deny bail in UAPA cases, a new interpretation could prevent its misuse.
… On top of the general problems with the justice system that have led to this situation, Khalid’s continued incarceration, like that of the other accused in the Delhi Riots conspiracy case as well as the Bhima Koregaon matter, is a result of the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act – the UAPA.
Read more

Also watch:

Repeal UAPA – Persecution by Prosecution (PUCL, Jan 2021)

Three Day consultation on 20th, 21st and 22nd January, 2021
► Repeal UAPA – Day One (video: en + … | 2h 17min)
► Repeal UAPA – Day Two (video: en +… | 2h 22min)
► Repeal UAPA – Day Three (video: en + … | 2h 51min)

PUCL welcomes the initial step towards the complete repeal of the colonial law of Sedition

12/05/2022 Asha

PUCL welcomes the initial step towards the complete repeal of the colonial law of Sedition

12/05/2022

By Peoples Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL)

Press release
The Peoples Union for Civil Liberties welcomes the order of the Supreme Court dated 11.05.22 in the petition filed by Army veteran Major-General SG Vombatkere (Retired) as well as PUCL and a range of other petitioners challenging the constitutional validity of Section 124-A of the Indian Penal Code, 1860. In its petition, the PUCL had pleaded that owing to the development of constitutional law, the law of sedition of the colonial era had no place; it was overbroad, vague, arbitrary, violating the sacrosanct freedom of speech and expression, hence it was imperative to strike it down as it was unconstitutional.
Read full statement

Will SC’s Sedition Order Mean Relief for Delhi Riots, Bhima Koregaon Accused?

12/05/2022

The Quint / by Mekhala Saran

Simply put: the Supreme Court’s order in the pleas challenging the sedition law is unlikely to do so. Here’s why…
“I have every right to criticise the government. BJP-RSS do not constitute country. They do not constitute nation. They have taken a jibe against Modi, against his policies. How is this sedition?” Advocate Nihalsingh Rathod, appearing for Ramesh Gaichor and Sagar Gorkha — two of the accused in the Bhima Koregaon case — had told a special court in November 2021.
Read more

Suspending sedition: No cause for celebration

13/05/2022

Deccan Herald / by Shikha Mukerjee

There really is no cause for celebration after the conditional suspension of the infamous Section 124 A, otherwise known as the Sedition Act of 1870. The statute books have so many other equally infamous laws, starting with the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act amended and strengthened in 2019, and the 2019 expansion of the National Investigation Agency Act that dumping a “colonial-era” law and claims to be respectful of human rights and liberties is a phoney gesture.
Read more

PUDR: When The Process becomes The Punishment

13/04/2022 Asha

Peoples Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR) / by PUDR

Tomorrow, 14th April 2022 marks the completion of two years of PUDR activist Gautam Navlakha’s surrender before the NIA. One of sixteen accused in the infamous Bhima Koregaon case, Gautam has been imprisoned in Taloja Central Jail, Navi Mumbai since 25 May 2020. For more than six months now, since 12 October 2021, the nearly 70 years old Gautam, an undertrial suffering from multiple health problems has been in solitary confinement in one of 33 cells in the ‘anda’ circle, the High Security Area of Taloja Jail, a space meant to segregate those guilty of heinous crimes.
Read more

Also read:
● How the ‘anda cell’ is used to discipline prison inmates (The Indian Express │ Oct 2021)
● System of solitary confinement, ‘Anda Cell’, inside the jail be stopped (Groundxero │ Oct 2021)