UAPA

क्या अदालतें ख़ुद को अपनी ही लगाई ग़ैर ज़रूरी बंदिशों से आज़ाद कर पाएंगी By अपूर्वानंद on 29/05/2021  http://thewirehindi.com/171223/india-political-prisoners-courts-police-governments/

The law says that the accused cannot be granted bail if there is a valid or sound reason or basis for which it can be said that in the first view, the charges against him are true.

But in the case of Zahoor Ali Shah Vatali, the Supreme Court made a peculiar interpretation of it. He said that the court will believe that the police documents are correct. Not only this, she cannot even investigate whether they are worthy of confession as evidence or not. They have to believe that they are fit.... In this way, the Supreme Court itself in a way indicated to the investigating agencies and the government that it can destroy its opponent in jail under this law without any solid basis.

With the help of this order of the Supreme Court or on the basis of this, 16 and 22 people have been given more than 3 years and more than 1 year in the name of investigation in the Bhima Koregaon case and the violence in Delhi.

Comment: Even the arsenal Report which showed that evidence used to show conspiracy, was planted in the computers of accused did not seem to shake the court..
Bhima Koregaon; evidence was planted in Rona Wilson’s laptop: Report https://maktoobmedia.com/2021/02/10/bhima-koregaon-evidence-was-planted-in-rona-wilsons-laptop-report/ Maktoob Staff

https://www.rediff.com/news/special/bhima-koregaon-hope-and-despair-for-accused/20210212.htm

How Governments Avoid Due Process by Declaring Groups as 'Front Organisations' of Banned Entities 15/Sep/2020

on February 18, 2014, Congress leader and the then minister of state in the Ministry of Home Affairs R.P.N. Singh said, “The CPI (Maoist) underground cadres shift to softer areas including urban areas looking for safe hideouts. On such occasions, the overground front organisations provide safe hideouts to armed cadres.”

Along with this response, Singh also annexed a list of 74 organisations which he said were active as “frontal organisations” in 16 states. From Maharashtra, among seven others, the Kabir Kala Manch (KKM) was named as one such front of the banned CPI (Maoist).

Alarmingly, neither Singh’s response, nor for that matter the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Activities (UAPA) Act – under which organisations are banned or branded – defines what a “front organisation” is, or what makes an organisation a “front” of a banned unlawful or terrorist group.

Legal experts say loopholes in UAPA allow enforcement agencies to misuse the law to target dissenters by branding them as 'fronts' for banned organisations

In this statement delivered under Item 4 at the 46th Session of the UN Human Rights Council, Amnesty International called on the Council to establish a monitoring mechanism on Egypt, hold India to account for its human rights obligations and commitments, and launch an inquiry into grave crimes and other serious human rights violations in China. - https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/ior40/3821/2021/en/
During India’s current Human Rights Council membership term, authorities have dramatically increased their crackdown on civil society, including by using laws like the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) to target human rights defenders, activists, peaceful protestors and civil society organisations. Amnesty International India has been among those targeted for human rights work: the organisation was forced to shut down operations in September 2020 following the freezing of its bank accounts and former staff members continue to be subjected to intimidation and harassment. The authorities have targeted minorities –particularly Muslims –and have responded to peaceful protesters with appalling brutality –including in the context of the Delhi Riots and protests over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). Serious human rights violations continue in Kashmir, including mass arbitrary detention and excessive use of force by the security forces.We urge this Council to hold India to account for its human rights obligations, and the commitments made seeking membership of this Council. - extracted from https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/IOR4038212021ENGLISH.pdf 12 March 2021

Amnesty International India halts its work on upholding human rights in India due to reprisal from Government of India 29 September 2020.https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2020/09/amnesty-international-india-halts-its-work-on-upholding-human-rights-in-india-due-to-reprisal-from-government-of-india/ Responding to Amnesty International India’s bank accounts being frozen by the Enforcement Directorate, an investigative agency of the Government in India, Julie Verhaar, Acting Secretary General of Amnesty International said: “This is an egregious and shameful act by the Indian Government, which forces us to cease the crucial human rights work of Amnesty International India for now. However, this does not mark the end of our firm commitment to, and engagement in, the struggle for human rights in India. We will be working resolutely to determine how Amnesty International can continue to play our part within the human rights movement in India for years to come.

Modi Is Worsening the Suffering from India’s Pandemic. An authoritarian apparatus is being turned on wider society with lethal consequences  https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/modi-is-worsening-the-suffering-from-indias-pandemic/

By going after those who seek help, or who question or critique the government’s abandonment of Indians during the COVID catastrophe, the regime is extending a repressive apparatus it has finessed through its seven-year rule to target grassroots activists, human-rights defenders, academics and journalists.

At the receiving end of this abuse of the law are some of India’s most dedicated advocates of social justice. These include Mahesh Raut, a community organizer in central India, where over 300 villages have asked for his release; Akhil Gogoi, a peasant activist in the northeastern state of Assam who in early May won a state legislative election from jail, where he has been held since December 2019; Stan Swamy, an aged Jesuit sociologist and Parkinson’s patient who at the time of his arrest in October 2020 was a lead petitioner in a public-interest litigation for the release of Dalit and Adivasi undertrials (people incarcerated without trial, often for years) in the state of Jharkhand; Khalid Saifi, a Delhi-based activist with United Against Hate, a group campaigning against hate crimes; Anand Teltumbde, a leading academic and thinker; and Sudha Bharadwaj and Surendra Gadling, veteran human-rights lawyers who have been in prison since mid-2018 without bail or trial.

India’s Supreme Court recently ordered the decongestion of jails and parole for undertrials..  But activists, academics and social workers like those above can expect little relief because the Modi government has booked them under draconian anti-terrorism laws and vehemently opposes their bail pleas in court. Earlier this month, agonized families of several human-rights defenders told the press that the pandemic was turning prisons into death traps with overcrowded barracks, COVID-infected inmates, little access to doctors, medicines or COVID vaccines, and an occasional phone call at the mercy of authorities serving as the only link to the outside world.

Also see: http://emeets.lnwr.in/index.php/me-mes-for-civil-liberties/uapa/616-release-the-bhima-koregaon-16-and-compensate-them

Posts on Use of UAPA in the Bhima Koregaon Case: http://emeets.lnwr.in/index.php/bk16

Other posts on UAPA: http://emeets.lnwr.in/index.php/me-mes-for-civil-liberties/uapa