A SPOTLIGHT ON UNLAWFUL ACTIVITIES PREVENTION ACT, 2019

The Unlawful activities prevention act, 2019 (hereupon referred to as UAPA,2019) is an amendment to the law UAPA,1967. It gives authority to name an individual as a terrorist without due process of law. It is also known as Anti-terror law. Anyone who commits, participates, prepares, promotes, or is otherwise involved in terrorism shall be called a terrorist, and a rigorous punishment is sentenced. Moreover, it is called a draconian law by many critics, even though the main purpose of the law is to control terrorist activities, it has widely been misused by political authorities for their whims and wishes and used to suppress criticism against them.

The overview of this project provides a vivid view of this law. Initially, the historical background of this law, i.e., UAPA, 1967 is presented to provide the actual inference of the framers to draft this law. Although the UAPA is in force since 1967, the legislation decided to amend it in 2004, 2008, 2012, and 2019. In a further attempt, the amendments to the law and its changed provisions are projected, and the cause and consequences of the amended laws will be discussed. Later, a precise summary of similar laws related to terrorism and anti-terror are added, and some popular cases will be presented to support the hypothesis of the study.

The paper further encompasses the essential features of the amendment of 2019 and the elements that have given rise to amending UAPA, 2019. The major concerns and critics’ condemning aspects will be analyzed by supporting them with relevant data, reports, and cases. At the end of the project, some suggested amendments to the law will be given, for better implementation of the law without being misused by the political authorities.