Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act

Explanation :

Context: As per the 2019 Crime in India Report by the National Crime Records Bureau, only 2.2 % of cases registered under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act between the years 2016 and 2019 ended in convictions by court.

• Passed in 1967, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) aims at effective prevention of unlawful activities associations in India.
• The Act assigns absolute power to the central government, by way of which if the Centre deems an activity as unlawful then it may, by way of an Official Gazette, declare it so.
• It has death penalty and life imprisonment as highest punishments.
• Under UAPA, both Indian and foreign nationals can be charged. It will be applicable to the offenders in the same manner, even if crime is committed on a foreign land, outside India.
• Under the UAPA, the investigating agency can file a charge sheet in maximum 180 days after the arrests and the duration can be extended further after intimating the court.
• The 2004 amendment, added “terrorist act" to the list of offences to ban organisations for terrorist activities, under which 34 outfits were banned.Till 2004, “unlawful" activities referred to actions related to secession and cession of territory.

As per 2019 amendments -

• The Act empowers the Director General of National Investigation Agency (NIA) to grant approval of seizure or attachment of property when the case is investigated by the said agency.
• The Act empowers the officers of the NIA, of the rank of Inspector or above, to investigate cases of terrorism in addition to those conducted by the DSP or ACP or above rank officer in the state.
• It also includes the provision of designating an individual as a terrorist.