As per reports, the Centre has denied revealing the names of those booked under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) notifying Parliament that it may impact the cases under the anti-terror law and is not in the larger public interest.
The Centre further added that the Delhi Police arrested 34 people in the year 2020 and recorded nine cases in the same pandemic year.
Nityanand Rai who is the Minister of state for home affairs put forward the information in the Lok Sabha while responding to the Trinamool Congress leader Mala Roy’s question regarding the names and the number of the people Delhi Police have arrested under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).
On the ground of this UAPA act, activists and jurists have expressed their concerns over the misuse of the anti-terror legislation. The matter regained its spotlight amidst the outrage over the death of Stan Swamy, an 84-year-old activist.
Stan Swamy was arrested in the previous year under the UAPA act. He was convicted under the UAPA for his role in what the National Investigative Agency has claimed to be a Maoist conspiracy that resulted in caste clashes near the Bhima Koregaon village four years ago. Stan Swamy’s bail plea on the ground of his health continued to be pending before the High Court, while he died in Mumbai.
Under this UAPA act, grant for bail becomes extremely difficult. The act emphasizes that an accused who is charged under the UAPA shall not be released on bail if the court thinks that there are reasonable grounds for believing that the acquisition against such a person is prima facie true.
