Opposition members on Wednesday questioned the government in Rajya Sabha on the abysmally low conviction rate in cases registered under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).
Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai informed the Upper House that according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), in the years 2018, 2019 and 2020, as many as 4,690 people were arrested under the anti-terror law and 149 people were convicted during the same period.
CPI’s Sandosh Kumar P said the reply given by the Minister was a clear indicator of the misuse and failure of the draconian law. He said most arrested persons belong to the 18-30 age group and asked whether the government like to repeal the draconian act in the 75th year of Independence of the country.
Mr. Rai replied there was a need to understand the law. It was first introduced in 1967 and has been amended four times to make it stringent according to the circumstances. He said the Narendra Modi government has zero tolerance for terrorism.
Mr. Kumar asked the Minister to define the term “terrorist” as it was ambiguous and said that the act was a serious menace to Dalits and minorities. Mr. Rai said data is not maintained along religious lines and anyone who affects the integrity and sovereignty of the country is a terrorist. He said that both States and Centre can register cases under the law.
BJP’s Radha Mohan Das Agarwal asked what steps were being taken to improve the conviction rate. Mr. Rai said that in cases registered by the Central government through the National Investigation Agency, the conviction rate is 94.17% and in the cases of jihadi terrorism and Left Wing Extremism (LWE) violence, it is 100%.
According to the reply given by the Minister, the number of persons arrested under UAPA from 2019-21 in the Opposition-ruled States such as Kerala, Chattisgarh, West Bengal, Telangana and Punjab stood at 55, 63, 5, 5 and 101 respectively.
RLD’s Jayant Chowdhury said Uttar Pradesh recorded a mere 6% conviction rate and whether the government will sensitise the State police as a journalist from Kerala who went to cover the Hathras rape case was booked under UAPA.
“Judgement has not been arrived in all cases and many cases are at atrial stage,” Mr. Rai said.
Congress’ Mukul Wasnik said the conviction rate in 2018, 2019 and 2020 stood at 2.5%, 1.75% and 2.6% respectively and. He pointed out that Uttar Pradesh was governed by the BJP and Jammu and Kashmir was a Union Territory.
