After the passing of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Bill 2019 (UAPA) in parliament, the idea of “human rights protection” in BJP-led India has become a farce. This amendment will empower the officials to declare any individual a terrorist on mere suspicion of the state and police, and they can seize your property without any court order which is a direct violation of Article 14 and Article 21 of Indian constitution.
A report issued by the UN raised several questions about the human rights violation in India, and the world’s biggest democracy is not complying with the Paris Principles properly. This new UAPA bill will definitely become a cause for international criticism of India. I have no idea whether the BJP leaders are suffering from amnesia or not, but they seem to have forgotten the history of the struggle of our country.
Under British-occupied India, freedom fighters were arrested under the Rowlatt Act for expressing their will to have a free motherland; but they did not stop struggling. This amended UAPA bill is going to give rise to resistant voices against the ultra-right-wing administration of our country just as the Rowlatt Act did in British-occupied India. Previously, any individual had to be a part of any banned organization to be considered as a terrorist, but after this reformation, you can be a terrorist for speaking against the government!
By proposing this bill, the BJP-led government is violating the three legislative public consulting policies of 2014, as they did not seek any public opinion on the bill. As we all know, our PM Mr Narendra Modi was silent for a while when Dalits and minorities were killed due to caste-based violence, so we are sure that the reformed UAPA is going to be misused to restrict the freedom of speech further. I am not saying this only for the sake of opposing the BJP or Narendra Modi, but few examples of the misuse of UAPA will justify my testimony.
Instead of going way too back (since we are all suffering from historical amnesia), let’s consider the case of four boys from Amroha, Uttar Pradesh who were released by NIA after serving six months in jail. Not only Amroha, even before 2014, the leaders of people’s resistance organized by the domiciles in several states were also arrested under this draconian UAPA law by the Congress, and after 2014, the scenario is the same. These are prominent examples of miscarriage of justice.
In recent years, BJP is trying to maim the sovereign and secularist nature of our country by propagating their “Hindu-Chauvinistic” idea to make this country a Hindu Rashtra. The 2019 UAPA law is going to be their most powerful weapon to fulfill their desires. If you are wearing a skull cap, have a beard, and are Muslim by birth, then you can be a terrorist based on your appearance, and the government can easily use this law against the Muslims to scare them. We have all witnessed the BJP trying to ostracize a person by tagging them as anti-national, and after this new UAPA law, it will be easier for the ruling party to tag any rebellious individual who is fighting against the economic and social antagonism in this unjust society.
Even National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) is being sclerotic in this question, and the government is trying to portray the NHRC as a useless organisation by not employing the head of the organisation for the last eight months. More than 3000 cases are pending in NHRC, but the government is not paying any attention to these. So, I am doggedly inflicting upon readers the idea that we need to protest on streets against this draconian law and save our fundamental rights before it’s too late. I hope to see the readers come out on the streets.