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Only being a member of an illegal organization is enough for punishment: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Friday has given an important decision regarding the UAPA law. According to this decision, now being a member of a banned organization will also come under the ambit of action. This means that even if the person has not done anything, but if he is a member of an illegal organization, he will still be considered a criminal under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act i.e. UAPA. This decision was given by the bench of Justice MR Shah, Justice CT Ravikumar and Justice Sanjay Karol.

Court reversed its own decision

Today, during this decision, the Supreme Court has overturned its own decision given in the year 2011. A three-member bench headed by Justice MR Shah changed the old decision of the Supreme Court, which said that mere being a member is not a crime and today the court has upheld Section 10(A)(1) of the UAPA. Years ago, the Supreme Court in its judgments in Arup Bhuyan v. State of Assam, Indira Das v. State of Assam and State of Kerala v. Ranif held that mere membership of an unlawful association does not constitute an offense under UAPA. In order to be a criminal, it is necessary to do some act.

What did the court comment?

A bench of Justice MR Shah, Justice CT Ravikumar and Justice Sanjay Karol also upheld Section 10(A)(1) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), 1967 in its judgement. This section of UAPA also declares membership of an illegal organization as a crime. In 2011, a two-member bench headed by Justice Markandey Katju said that mere membership of a banned organization would not lead to action. The court said in its judgment today that the 2011 judgment was given on the bail plea. It did not question the constitutionality of the provisions of the Act. It also upheld the constitutionality of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the Terrorism and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act. In the year 2014, Justice Deepak Mishra's bench referred the matter to a larger bench. A bench headed by Justice MR Shah had reserved the judgment on February 9 and pronounced it today.

What is UAPA?

The full form of UAPA is Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. The main task of this law is to prevent terrorist activities. Under this law, the police identify such terrorists, criminals or other people who are involved in terrorist activities or prepare people for this or promote such activities. Originally UAPA was enacted in the year 1967. It was amended in the year 2004 and in the year 2008 as the Anti-Terrorism Act. In August 2019, Parliament approved the UAPA (Amendment) Bill, 2019 to designate individuals as terrorists on certain grounds. After which this law got strength that even a person can be declared a terrorist on the basis of investigation. Earlier this power was only with respect to an organization. That is, under this act, an organization was declared a terrorist organization.

 

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