Indian govt abusing anti-terror law UAPA to imprison activists, critics: US, UK legal experts
India is abusing its anti-terrorism law to imprison human rights defenders and civil activists for years on false charges, without bail or even a trial, legal experts from the US, the UK and India said on Friday.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government was abusing this law, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), even more aggressively than did the previous governments, and so it should be repealed, the experts said at a Congressional Briefing in Washington, DC, on Wednesday.
“The Government of India has been engaging in increasing and severe crackdowns on freedom of speech, routinely responding to peaceful critics with abuse of excessive penal actions,” John Sifton, the Washington, DC-based Asia Advocacy Director of Human Rights Watch, said. It was abusing the law “more aggressively to criminalize dissent and press freedom, undermine rights, freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.”…
