• Only two cases filed under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act were quashed by courts between 2018 and 2022, Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha on July 30.

• The minister presented data from the latest National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report on ‘Crime in India’, which showed that 6,503 individuals were chargesheeted under the UAPA during the period, while 252 people were convicted for the offences.

• The data presented by the minister showed that two cases were quashed in Kerala in 2022.

• Law enforcement agencies arrested a total of 8,947 individuals under the UAPA between 2018 and 2022, with 2,633 arrests in Jammu & Kashmir, followed by 2,162 in Uttar Pradesh.

What is the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act?

• Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act is an anti-terror law aimed at the effective prevention of unlawful activities of individuals and associations in India. Its main objective is to make powers available for dealing with activities directed against the integrity and sovereignty of India.

• It was passed in 1967 under the Congress government led by PM Indira Gandhi. Later, amendments were brought in under the UPA governments in 2004, 2008 and 2013.

• In August 2019, the President gave approval to The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Act, 2019. 

• The amended Act included provision of designating an individual as a terrorist. Prior to this amendment, only organisations could be designated as terrorist organisations.

• The amendment gave powers to the director general of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to attach properties acquired from proceeds of terrorism. Earlier, the law required that the NIA take prior permission from the respective state police chief to attach the proceeds of terrorism. 

• Also, the International Convention for Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism (2005) has been added in the Second Schedule through the amendment.

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