UAPA: SUPPRESSION OF THE VOICES - USAGE

What happens when in a country built on the foundation of democracy, student leaders are arbitrarily jailed? Where anyone who dares to keep the courage to speak up against the government or criticize the people in power is dehumanized and deemed “terrorist”? What happens when the ones meant to protect the very democratic fabric of the country rise to suppress, to subdue, to oppress?

Understanding how a law is used is understanding the power that it wields. Therefore, a look at recent use of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) in context should tell us exactly the problem with it is. A majority of the recently arrested are students of the Jamia Millia Islamia Institute, the Jawaharlal Nehru University and that too against the backdrop of the Anti - CAA Protests. In addition to that, Pinjra Tod Activists and student leader, Umar Khalid, amongst others have been arrested on the pretext of ‘inciting the February Pogrom in Delhi’. From Kashmiri citizens using VPNs being thrown into jail under this law, to the NGO ‘Fridays For Future’ Being put to the torch for speaking up against the Environment Impact Assessment Notification, to numerous others being prosecuted, perhaps the term ‘prosecution’ should be replaced with ‘persecution’.

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1. SUDHA BHARDWAJ:

A notable arrest that shows the brokenness of this law and its implications are the arrests of the Pro Dalit Rights Activists such as Sudha Bhardwaj. She was arrested on charges accusing her of being involved in Maoist activities. While on the other hand, individuals such as Komal Sharma, who admitted to having been involved in the violence committed against JNU students and despite plentiful evidence being available to substantiate it, stands free without having to face consequences.

Several interim bail pleas introduced in the court on behalf of Sudha Bhardwaj, have been repeatedly rejected. Recently, a bail plea on the basis of medical grounds introduced was rejected with the reason given that ‘she has a good case based on merits’*. Over three years have passed since her being put behind bars. Despite her developing heart disease and diabetes while in prison, she has repeatedly been denied bail even during a pandemic in which those who are not medically sound are more at risk in terms of contracting the disease.

2. SHARJEEL IMAM:

Sharjeel Imam was arrested under the ambit of the UAPA in April for supposedly causing the violence in ‘Jamia Millia Islamia’ in December of 2019, despite the police being the aggressors. Several videos of police officers entering libraries and hitting students who were literally doing nothing other than studying have shown up as well as first hand witness reports of cops screaming islamophobic slurs at people and sexually assaulting students. On top of that, two people were shot by cops and admitted to Safdarjung Hospital and after a month and a half of denial, the Delhi Police finally confessed to police officers opening fire on protestors. On top of that, the Vice Chancellor of Jamia, Najma Akhtar said that an FIR would be filed against the Delhi Police which was filed, however, it took them a month to do so.

Then came August, when he was arrested under the ambit of the UAPA again, this time for apparently abetting the Delhi Pogrom. Sharjeel Imam has been repeatedly labelled as a ‘terrorist’ by media houses as well as sitting ministers who have very gladly shared only tiny excerpts from his speeches taking away any context to attempt to delegitimize any and all movements that he has been associated with such as the ‘Shaheen Bagh Protests’.

This all happened while men such as Kapil Mishra, an active member of the BJP, openly threatened to cause violence in Jaffarabad and Chand Bagh, that too in front of a police officer if the roads were not cleared after the then visiting Donald Trump had left - a timeline that very conveniently matched with the Delhi Pogrom. Kapil Mishra to this date has not been arrested for those comments and roams free.

3. SAFOORA ZARGAR AND DEVANGANA KALITA

The cases of Safoora Zargar and Devangana Kalita bring several nuanced aspects of gender based discrimination to light. Devangana Kalita - a student leader working with Pinjra Tod, an organization that works towards making university campuses safer and less restrictive for women, was arrested for supposedly abetting the February Delhi Pogrom. She was granted bail but due to an FIR being filed against her soon after she remains in jail.

Following her arrest, Safoora Zargar, who was pregnant at the time of her arrest, has faced incessant and depraved beratement online. Safoor Zargar went through a series of witch-hunts and media trials on not only social media but also on news channels which engaged in a desperate attempt to perform a complete character assassination of her, dehumanizing her. This leads us to the larger conversation of the media and the society as a whole carrying out witch hunts against women who speak up or fall in the public eye, for centuries. This also raises questions about influential media houses that demonize and villainize women who do what these media houses fail to: ask the right questions and agitate against oppression, but also those who fall in the public eye.

4. FRIDAYS FOR FUTURE:

The suppression of dissent has not only been limited to student activists but also other institutions. An NGO by the name of ‘Fridays for Future’ was targeted as well and its website was shut down due to it email bombing the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change in relation to the deeply problematic Environmental Impact Assessment Notification. On top of that, the organization was slapped with the UAPA which the police claimed to be a ‘clerical error’. With the previous action of shutting down the website, is the motive of the usage not clear?

These arrests make up only a tiny percentage of the total number of arrests under the ambit of the law. Between 2016 and 2018 alone, over 3,794 people were arrested.

The reader is encouraged to read up on more arrests that have not been covered in this article.

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Now, student leader Umar Khalid has been charged with the incitement of the February Delhi Pogrom on baseless grounds, all while people such as Komal Sharma, Anurag Thakur and Kapil Mishra roam free without any consequences for their actions.

Past incidents have also clearly shown how instead of catching actual terrorists, this law works as a tool for the government to arrest anyone speaking against it.

The design of the law in addition to its usage in the past shows a clear and malicious intent to harass, oppress and subdue all those who speak up against the ruling government and criticize it (i.e. dissent), especially the student body. This statement is further supported by the fact that less than 1/3rd of the arrests actually lead to conviction, a conviction rate which is dismal.

One, therefore, must ask themselves these questions: does being afraid to forward a message or share an opinion seem normal to you in a democracy? How democratic is the democracy with the fourth pillar of it in ruins and the strongest voices of dissent in it, behind bars?

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* When bail pleas were introduced in the court stating that the arrest of Sudha Bhardwaj were malicious and based on faulty grounds, those pleas were repeatedly rejected. Recently, owing to the ailing health of Ms. Bhardwaj, a bail plea on the basis of medical grounds was introduced stating that keeping her imprisoned was a danger to her health and could possibly put her in critical conditions owing to the pandemic. However, this bail plea was then also rejected stating that a regular bail plea would have sufficed. “You have a good case on merits. Why don’t you file a regular bail application?”