New Delhi:The riots in North-East Delhi last year have brought the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) (UAPA) Act to the limelight with law experts saying that the amendments made in 2019 in the act make it harder for the accused to prove innocence.
Last year, North-East Delhi witnessed riots on 24-25 February in which the Delhi Police has registered 755 FIRs so far and arrested 1818 people.
18 accused under UAPA act for North-East Delhi riots 18 people have been accused by the Special Cell of Delhi Police in the case of conspiracy in these riots. 17 of these accused are in jail. However, Safura Zargar was granted bail by the High Court on humanitarian grounds.
Tahir Hussain, Umar Khalid, Khalid Saifi, Ishrat Jahan, Miran Haider, Gulfisha, Shafa ur Rehman, Asif Iqbal Tanha, Shadab Ahmed, Taslim Ahmed, Salim Malik, Mohammad Salim Khan, Athar Khan, Sharjeel Imam, Faizan Khan, Natasha Narwal and Dewangan Kalita are among those in jail currently under UAPA act.
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According to law experts, these accused may get bail under other sections of the Indian Penal Code, but getting relief under UAPA is a difficult task. Delhi High Court lawyer Arun Gupta says that before the UAPA, the action was taken against organizations, but in 2019, the central government amended to include individuals as well.
Gupta says getting relief to the accused of UAPA is a very difficult task. In other cases, the accused used to be released after being acquitted from the court, but under the UAPA accused has to go to the review committee of the central government. Only after getting a clean chit of the committee will the accused be independent. In such a situation, all the 18 accused of UAPA are not expecting relief in the near future.
