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Tag: UAPA

High Court seeks assistance of Attorney General in Teltumbde’s UAPA challenge

High Court seeks assistance of Attorney General in Teltumbde’s UAPA challenge

Bar & Bench / by Neha Joshi

The plea filed by accused Anand Teltumbde has challenged the provisions under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act pertaining to bail and misuse of the term “front organisation” by NIA.
The Bombay High Court on Wednesday sought the assistance of Attorney General for India KK Venugopal in a plea filed by Bhima Koregaon accused Anand Teltumbde challenging provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
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How Modi has Depressed Indian Democracy

How Modi has Depressed Indian Democracy

Intpolicydigest.org / by Manas Nag

In July of last year, Stan Swamy, a prominent tribal rights activist, passed away at a hospital in Mumbai. The 84-year-old became India’s oldest political prisoner and remained in custody for eight months while his bail plea on medical grounds was repeatedly rejected. Riddled with Parkinson’s disease, Swamy’s health deteriorated to the point where he could not feed himself. He was eventually moved to a hospital in May where he contracted COVID-19. Swamy was charged and arrested in 2020 under a draconian anti-terror law called the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) – an accusation he categorically denied.
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UAPA and the many victims of the Republic of India

UAPA and the many victims of the Republic of India

AskIndiaWhy / by AskIndiaWhy

January 26 is India’s Republic Day, when the government will conduct an elaborate parade under the vanity of national pride as the world’s largest democracy — supposedly guaranteeing liberty, equality and freedom of speech. 
India’s Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) was established in 1967 with the purpose of centralising political power to prevent “unlawful activities” and upkeeping the integrity of India’s sovereign democratic status.
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Also watch/read:
● Video: International Solidarity Statement, 73rd Republic Day of India (InSAF / Jan 2022)
● On R-Day, Diaspora Groups Call for Release of Anti-CAA Protestors Charged Under UAPA (The Wire / Jan 2022)

India’s government unleashing controversial UAPA as means of silencing civil rights activists

India’s government unleashing controversial UAPA as means of silencing civil rights activists

Daily Maverick / By Anandaroop Sen

In this interview, Anandaroop Sen, a senior lecturer in history at the University of Cape Town, talks to Kavita Srivastava, the President of the Rajasthan Chapter of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties and one of India’s most respected activists, about the clampdown and what it represents for the future of human rights in India.

Anandaroop Sen (AS): Could you begin by giving the context in which the 16 Indian academics, activists, lawyers, popularly known as the Bhima Koregaon 16 (BK 16) have been imprisoned by the Narendra Modi-led BJP government for the last three years.
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UAPA And The Authoritarian Tendencies Of A Democratic Government

UAPA And The Authoritarian Tendencies Of A Democratic Government

Youthkiawaaz / by Salim Usman

The Modi government has, over the years, used the UAPA to counter any narrative that goes against their views and uses the law to arbitrarily arrest those who have spoken against them.
The unprecedented rise in countries exhibiting authoritarian tendencies throughout the world in the past few years, and the large number of human rights violations committed by state actors, is a matter of concern not just for the particular country’s political, social and economic circles but also for the international political community.
… perhaps the starkest example of the weaponisation of the UAPA was its use against those accused in the 2018 Bhima Koregaon violence case.
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UAPA Annual Digest 2021: Important Judgments Of Supreme Court & High Courts

UAPA Annual Digest 2021: Important Judgments Of Supreme Court & High Courts

Live Law / by Aaratrika Bhaumik

As we step into 2022, LiveLaw brings to you a yearly Round-up of important cases pertaining to the controversial Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 from the Supreme Court, High Courts and trial courts across the country. This yearly digest includes 90 judgments and orders.
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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)

SC Judgment Review 2021 / Bail Under UAPA: Court in Review

SC Judgment Review 2021 / Bail Under UAPA: Court in Review

SC Judgment Review 2021: Terror

24/12/2021

Supreme Court Observer / by Gauri Kashyap

We discuss two judgments where the Court engaged with bail under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (UAPA).
In 2021, the Supreme Court issued 865 judgments. In a series of posts, we conduct a thematic review of the most important judgments of the year. Here, we discuss two judgments where the Court engaged with bail under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (UAPA).
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Bail Under UAPA: Court in Review

13/12/2021

Supreme Court Observer / by Ayushi Saraogi

Section 43D(5) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 lays down stringent provisions for the grant of bail.
In the aftermath of the Bombay terror attacks, the Union government enacted the UAPA Amendment Act, 2008. The Amendment introduced Section 43D (5), which required a Court to deny bail if there were reasonable grounds to believe that the case against the accused was prima facie true. The provision made bail difficult to secure, since it required the Court to assess guilt only by looking at the charge sheet prepared by the National Investigation Agency (NIA). The accused cannot provide any evidence outside the chargesheet in their defense.
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Also read:
● 4,690 UAPA arrests between 2018-21; only 3.1% convictions (The Federal / Dec 2021)
● UAPA: Lawyers Challenge Sections Defining ‘Unlawful Activities’ as Vague (Gauri Lankesh News / Nov 2021)
● Bhima Koregaon Case: Trying Without a Trial Is the Intent of Draconian UAPA Law (The Wire / July 2021)

Indian anti-terror law snags more than terrorists / 4,690 UAPA arrests; 3.1% convictions

Indian anti-terror law snags more than terrorists / 4,690 UAPA arrests; 3.1% convictions

Indian anti-terror law snags more than terrorists

22/12/2021

Yahoo News / by Sarita Santoshini

Pendyala Pavana is no stranger to the world of social activism and government repression. Ever since she was a child she has seen her father, a revolutionary poet and activist, subjected to repeated criminal charges, accused of everything under the sun, including murder.
Twenty-four times he has been charged; 24 times he has been found not guilty. Still, Ms. Pavana is shocked by the way her father, Varavara Rao, is being treated in his latest ordeal. “It’s quite against natural justice, and his rights are completely denied,” she says.
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4,690 UAPA arrests between 2018-21; only 3.1% convictions

22/12/2021

The Federal / by The Federal

Authorities arrested 4,690 people across India under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) between 2018 and 2021, but only 149 detainees have so far been convicted, according to figures provided by the government.
That means only 3.1 per cent of the arrests under the draconian law in the past three years have ended in convictions.
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Civil society renews demand for repeal of UAPA, AFSPA and Sedition Law

Civil society renews demand for repeal of UAPA, AFSPA and Sedition Law


Drawing by Arun Ferreira

Civil society renews demand for repeal of UAPA, AFSPA and Sedition Law

14/12/2021

Kashmir Media Service / by KMS

Prominent civil society groups and activists as well as lawyers held a public meeting at the Press Club of India and demanded repeal of black laws like Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, sedition law, and Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act.
The speakers explained various aspects of the black laws, their history of use by various governments in India to try to silence the voices of the people, and said in one voice that in a democracy there was no place for such laws. Those who addressed the meeting included M K Venu of The Wire, Vikas Bajpai, Ish Mishra and A Dubey of Janhastakshep, civil rights activist Sanjay Parikh and lawyer and civil rights activist N D Pancholi.
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Bail to Sudha Bharadwaj: Civil rights groups demand release of all BK case accused

14/12/2021

Counterview / by Counterview

Civil rights groups, even as welcoming the Supreme Court order granting default bail to Advocate Sudha Bharadwaj, have demanded that release of all human rights defenders arrested in the Bhima Koregaon (BK) case.
The People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) said the “short order of the Supreme Court” on December 7 dismissing the Special Leave Petition (SLP) of the National Investigation Agency (NIA)” is a “vindication of the long campaign against the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) by the PUCL and other allied groups.
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Read full statement: PUCL Welcomes Bail for Sudha Bharadwaj

Over 50% of those arrested under UAPA were under 30, Centre tells Parliament

15/12/2021

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

The government said it was not considering any amendments to the anti-terror law, which critics say is being increasingly used to stifle dissent.
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PUCL Welcomes Bail for Sudha Bharadwaj / Statement by Workers Unions

PUCL Welcomes Bail for Sudha Bharadwaj / Statement by Workers Unions

PUCL Welcomes Bail for Sudha Bharadwaj

08/12/2021

PUCL / by People’s Union For Civil Liberties (PUCL)

The PUCL welcomes the short order of the Supreme Court  yesterday, 07th December, 2021, dismissing the SLP filed by the NIA which challenged the grant of statutory bail to Advocate Sudha Bharadwaj, a committed activist lawyer and member of PUCL. The PUCL sees this important order and the order of the Bombay High Court which was under challenge, as a vindication of the long campaign against the UAPA by the PUCL and other allied groups.
Read full statement

On the granting of bail to Advocate Sudha Bharadwaj by the Bombay High Court

05/12/2021

ReleaseSudhaBharadwaj.net/ by CMM-MKC and other workers unions

On the 1st of December 2021, after having spent three years in jail on fabricated charges in the Bhima Koregaon case, Human Rights activist and lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj was granted bail by the Bombay High Court. We the undersigned unions and workers collectives welcome the judgement. It is a great relief for the working people of Chhattisgarh who have consistently campaigned against the illegal arrest of Sudha Bharadwaj and continuously demanded her release.
Full statement