Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act

The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967
Parliament of India
  • An Act to provide for the effective prevention of certain unlawful activities of individuals and associations and for matters connected therewith.
CitationAct No. 37 of 1967
Territorial extentIndia
Enacted byParliament of India
Assented to30 December 1967[1]
Amended by
1. The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Act, 1969 (24 of 1969).

2. The Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 1972 (31 of 1972).
3. The Delegated Legislation Provisions (Amendment) Act, 1986 (4 of 1986).
4. The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Act, 2004 (29 of 2004).
5. The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Act, 2008 (35 of 2008).

6. The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Act, 2019 (28 of 2019).
Status: In force

The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act is an Indian law aimed at the prevention of unlawful activities associations in India. Its main objective was to make powers available for dealing with activities directed against the integrity and sovereignty of India.[1] The most recent amendment of the law, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Act, 2019 (UAPA 2019) has made it possible for the Union Government to designate individuals as terrorists without following any formal judicial process.[2][3] UAPA is also known as the "Anti-terror law".

The National Integration Council appointed a Committee on National Integration and Regionalisation to look into the aspect of putting reasonable restrictions in the interests of the sovereignty and integrity of India. The agenda of the NIC limited itself to communalism, casteism and regionalism and not terrorism.[4] Pursuant to the acceptance of recommendations of the committee, the Constitution (Sixteenth Amendment) Act, 1963 was enacted to impose, by law, reasonable restrictions in the interests of the sovereignty and integrity of India. In 2019, the BJP led NDA government claimed that in order to implement the provisions of 1963 Act, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Bill was introduced in the Parliament.[5]

United Nations special rapporteurs stated that the provisions of the UAPA 2019, contravenes several articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.[6] BBC News has reported that people arrested and charged with UAPA find it harder to get bail.

  1. ^ a b "UAPA, 1967 at NIA.gov.in" (PDF). NIA. Retrieved 28 December 2012.
  2. ^ Poddar, Rongeet. "Constitutionality of India's Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Bill, 2019: India's McCarthyism Moment". Oxford Human Rights Hub. Retrieved 18 November 2022.
  3. ^ Sebastian, Manu (28 July 2019). "UAPA Amendment : Why Giving Govt Power To Declare Individuals 'Terrorists' Is Problematic?". www.livelaw.in. Retrieved 18 November 2022.
  4. ^ "National Integration Council reconstituted". The Hindu. Retrieved 23 November 2020.
  5. ^ "The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act" (PDF). Nia.gov.in.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference UN concern was invoked but never defined (see the help page).