Rights Activists Arrest: This Law Is An Ass

On August 28, the Pune police mounted raids across several cities,taking into custody five civil liberties activists, invoking that dreaded anti-terror law, the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). They were acc­­used of inciting violence in바카라 웹사이트Bhima Koregaon in January, and generally of aiding the banned Maoist party. The police라이브 바카라 swift operation—oiled by a section of the media that flashed dubious letters about a conspiracy, and a lower judiciary바카라 웹사이트that speedily signed transfer remands—has received a jolt for now.

The run of events evoked a sense of déjà vu. Have we not seen a vicious trial by media every time an agency presented its latest arrests바카라 웹사이트as operatives of whichever group was in the home ministry라이브 바카라 favour that season? Have we not seen바카라 웹사이트courts바카라 웹사이트signing blank cheques for investigators—be it extended remands or ignoring signs of custodial torture?바카라 웹사이트The ever-exp­anding circle of suspects since January, the stubborn refusal바카라 웹사이트by the police바카라 웹사이트to book Hindu right groups inv­olved in the바카라 웹사이트Bhima Koregaon바카라 웹사이트violence, the바카라 웹사이트convenient recoveries of self-incriminating letters—all of it fits the template of arrests made under UAPA.

Who would know better than바카라 웹사이트Arun바카라 웹사이트Ferreira, now under house arrest, saved from the Pune penitentiary by the Supreme Court라이브 바카라 grace? In 2007, he was바카라 웹사이트picked up, accused of바카라 웹사이트conspiring바카라 웹사이트to blow up a monument in바카라 웹사이트Deekshabhoomi바카라 웹사이트in Nagpur. Eventually, 10 more cases were filed against him,바카라 웹사이트including arson, assault, murder and firing on police; one was said to have occurred while he was in jail. A바카라 웹사이트pen drive바카라 웹사이트supposedly바카라 웹사이트recovered바카라 웹사이트from바카라 웹사이트him was바카라 웹사이트the sum of바카라 웹사이트the evidence.바카라 웹사이트He was acquitted after five years in jail.

This is how cases under UAPA are registered and prosecuted. Charges multiply.바카라 웹사이트Bail is rarely gran­ted.바카라 웹사이트But it isn’t merely the procedure that blights this law. Passed in 1967 and amended repeate­dly,바카라 웹사이트UAPA바카라 웹사이트enables the Centre to declare an association “unlawful” if it is seen as a threat or pot­ential threat to the country라이브 바카라 “sovereignty and integrity”, or is seen as promoting “enmity between different groups”, or for “imputations prejudicial to national integration”—all subjective criteria contingent on the ideology of the government of the day.바카라 웹사이트The ban on the Students’ Islamic Movement of India (SIMI)바카라 웹사이트in 2001바카라 웹사이트saw arrests of hundreds of Muslim youth across the country for allegedly furthering the group라이브 바카라 activities, and is still a potent wea­pon to render the community perennially suspect. 바카라 웹사이트

The sections most often invoked—3, 10 and 13—refer not to violence, but to membership of unlawful and terrorist associations.바카라 웹사이트But how to prove membership바카라 웹사이트and participation in바카라 웹사이트an organisation that no longer exists?바카라 웹사이트This is resolved by바카라 웹사이트investigators바카라 웹사이트‘seizing’바카라 웹사이트literature of the organisation. In the case of SIMI, in바카라 웹사이트an overwhelming number of cases바카라 웹사이트the evidence centred on copies of the group라이브 바카라 organ,바카라 웹사이트Islamic Movement, all antedating the ban, or pamphlets of programmes held by SIMI when lawful, or photocopies of these, or the same magazine in multiple cases바카라 웹사이트in different cities with a different set of accused!

Under UAPA, the ‘intention’ of the suspect is central in condemning him or her as a terrorist (“whoever does any act with intent to threaten or likely to threaten the unity, integrity, security or sovereignty of India”).바카라 웹사이트‘Unlawful activity’바카라 웹사이트defined as “an act or by words, either spoken or written, or by signs or by visible representation or otherwise”, practically grants the government the power to criminalise any idea, thought, art or writing that challenges the dominant narratives of development, governance and social inequality. Commission of violence has thus become peripheral to the charge of terrorism.바카라 웹사이트바카라 웹사이트

It바카라 웹사이트is true that바카라 웹사이트some judicial pronouncements have sought to temper the바카라 웹사이트law라이브 바카라 razor바카라 웹사이트edge바카라 웹사이트by distinguishing between active and passive membership of banned organisations.바카라 웹사이트That hasn’t discouraged pro­s­ecutors from바카라 웹사이트citing the accused라이브 바카라 commitment to jus­­tice and equality as inc­riminating evidence, or discouraged the courts from accepting this. 바카라 웹사이트So바카라 웹사이트G.N. Saibaba—wheelchair-bound and 90 per cent disabled—has been sentenced to life, mainly for his ideas. 바카라 웹사이트

And yet,바카라 웹사이트this바카라 웹사이트was a바카라 웹사이트spectacular operation—a바카라 웹사이트psy-op if ever there was one. The바카라 웹사이트‘shock-and-awe’바카라 웹사이트nature of the multi-city raids was meant to force us all into submission, and to congeal the ‘Urban바카라 웹사이트Naxal’바카라 웹사이트legend in this government라이브 바카라 relentless pursuit of foes. And while the Opposition decries it—rightly—as an attack on dissent, it must itself commit to the repeal of this law,바카라 웹사이트which in the past it created and nourished.

(Manisha Sethi is the author of바카라 웹사이트Kafkaland: Law, Prejudice and Counterterrorism in India.)