{"id":48573,"date":"2025-07-18T21:37:29","date_gmt":"2025-07-18T16:07:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=48573"},"modified":"2025-07-19T15:51:31","modified_gmt":"2025-07-19T10:21:31","slug":"constitutional-validity-of-uapa-upheld-by-bombay-high-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/18-07-2025\/constitutional-validity-of-uapa-upheld-by-bombay-high-court","title":{"rendered":"Constitutional Validity of UAPA Upheld by Bombay High Court"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS2\/ Polity<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>In News<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Bombay High Court upheld the constitutional validity of the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/10-01-2025\/unlawful-activities-prevention-act-uapa-1967\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/10-01-2025\/unlawful-activities-prevention-act-uapa-1967\">Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), 1967<\/a><\/strong>, dismissing a petition that challenged the law as being ultra vires and violative of fundamental rights.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Court underscored the objectives of <strong>national security and public order.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What is UAPA?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Enactment: <\/strong>Brought into force in 1967, being amended several times\u2014most notably in 2004, 2008, 2012, and 2019\u2014to include terror-related offences and empower the government with wider discretionary powers.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Purpose:<\/strong> To prevent unlawful activities, including terrorism, that threaten the sovereignty and integrity of India.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Provisions:<\/strong> It grants the government powers to ban organisations, designate individuals\/organisations as terrorists, and prescribe enhanced investigation and detention procedures (including extended pre-charge detention and stringent bail conditions).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Arguments in Favour of UAPA<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>National Security: <\/strong>Advocates contend that India faces persistent threats from terrorism, and stringent laws like UAPA are essential to equip agencies to prevent and respond to such threats.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>International Obligations:<\/strong> Amendments align Indian law with international conventions and UNSC resolutions against terrorism.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Pre-emptive Powers:<\/strong> Allows security agencies to act before threats escalate\u2014by banning organizations, freezing assets, etc.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Criticisms and Arguments Against UAPA<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Vague Definitions &amp; Overbroad Powers: <\/strong>Critics argue the Act allows the executive wide discretion to designate individuals or organisations as \u201cterrorist\u201d or \u201cunlawful\u201d without adequate definition or robust judicial safeguards.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Civil Liberties &amp; Dissent: <\/strong>The law is seen as a tool to suppress dissent, given instances where activists have faced prosecution under its provisions.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Extended Detention &amp; Bail:<\/strong> UAPA restricts bail and allows extended pre-trial custody, drawing concern for violating rights to liberty and fair trial.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: TH<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>In News<\/strong><\/h3>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">The Bombay High Court upheld the constitutional validity of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), 1967, dismissing a petition that challenged the law as being ultra vires and violative of fundamental rights.<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<h3><strong>What is UAPA?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Enactment: Brought into force in 1967, being amended several times\u2014most notably in 2004, 2008, 2012, and 2019\u2014to include terror-related offences and empower the government with wider discretionary powers.<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Purpose: To prevent unlawful activities, including terrorism, that threaten the sovereignty and integrity of India.<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Provisions: It grants the government powers to ban organisations, designate individuals\/organisations as terrorists, and prescribe enhanced investigation and detention procedures (including extended pre-charge detention and stringent bail conditions).<\/li>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/18-07-2025\/constitutional-validity-of-uapa-upheld-by-bombay-high-court\" class=\"btn btn-primary btn-sm float-end\">Read\u00a0More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48573"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48573\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48639,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48573\/revisions\/48639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}