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