THE GIST of Editorial for UPSC Exams : 16 March 2020 (Bhima-Koregaon and the UAPA Act(Indian Express))

Bhima-Koregaon and the UAPA Act(Indian Express)

Mains Paper 2:Polity
Prelims level:Unlawful Activities(Prevention) Act
Mains level: Problems of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act

Context:

• Recently, Maharashtra government has withdrawn 348 of 649 Bhima Koregaon violence cases. Theaccused included activists and lawyers who had been booked under the Unlawful Activities(Prevention) Act (UAPA).
• Earlier, the Supreme Court (SC) has ordered the Pune police to place thefive well-known rights activists, they detained in a countrywide crackdown, under house arrest, and thattoo, in their own homes. The court was hearing a petition filed by five eminent persons i.e. Romila Thapar,Devaki Jain, Prabhat Patnaik, Satish Deshpande and Maja Dharuwala.

Background:

• A three-judge Bench, led by Chief Justice of India, lashed out at the sweeping round of arrests,observing that democracy could not survive without dissenting voices. Dissent is the safety valve ofdemocracy. If dissent is not allowed, democracy will burst under pressure.
• The said order of the SC had raised a fundamental question. Namely, whether the arrests werethe culmination of a legitimate probe into a Maoist plot, as the police claim, or whether this is yet anotherclumsy failure to distinguish between those who indulge in or actively support violent activity, and thosewho attempt to understand or empathies with the social conditions that breed extremism and insurgency.

About UAPA:

• The UAPA authorizes the government to ban unlawful organizations and terrorist organizations (subject to judicial review), and penalizes membership of such organizations.
• In 2004, the government chose to strengthen .....................................................

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Problems with UAPA:

• Vague and Broad Definition: The problems begin with the definition clause itself. The definition of“unlawful activities” includes “disclaiming” or “questioning” the territorial integrity of India, and causing“disaffection” against India. These words are staggeringly vague and broad.
• Fails todefine what membership entails: Similarly, under the act “Membership” of unlawful andterrorist organisations is a criminal offence, and in the latter case, it can be punished with lifeimprisonment. But the Act fails entirely to define what “membership” entails. The question arises areyou a “member” if you possess literature or books about a banned organisation? If you expresssympathy with its aims? If you’ve met other, “active” members? These are not theoreticalconsiderations: charge sheets under the UAPA often cite the seizure of books or magazines, andpresence at “meetings”, as clinching evidence of membership. In 2011, the Supreme Court attemptedto narrow the scope of these provisions, holding that “membership” was limited to cases ................................................................

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Way forward:

• Maharashtra police must follow the evidence rather than go overboard.
• Given the sweeping allegations of unlawful activity and the enormity of implicating them in unverifiedassassination plots, the burden of proof on the police is extremely high. Unless proven, it will onlyconfirm suspicions that the law has been bent with the sole purpose of targeting dissent.
• Thus, if a democratic state is permitted to arm itself with legislations such as the UAPA, empoweringit to deny someone who opposes the government their freedom for an almost indefinite period of time,it casts a duty upon the judiciary to ensure that the arrest itself is based on cogent and irrefutableevidence.

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Prelims Questions:

Q.1)With reference to the Epidemic Disease Act, 1897, consider the following statements:
1. The Epidemic Act is meant "to provide for the better prevention of the spread of dangerous epidemic diseases".
2. Section 2 of the act empower the state government to take special measures and prescribe regulations as to dangerous epidemic disease.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Answer: ..........................................

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Mains Questions:
Q.1) What do you mean by theUnlawful Activities (Prevention) Act? What are the major problems of it?