Shashi Tharoor introduces private member bill in LS to repeal UAPA, cites low conviction rate

New Delhi [India], April 1 (ANI): Senior Congress member and MP Shashi Tharoor on Friday introduced a private member's bill in Lok Sabha seeking to repeal the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
Presenting the data on UAPA, the Congress MP claimed that the conviction rate with regards to people charged with the law is very minimal.
"Over the last 7 years, though around 10,552 Indians have been arrested under UAPA, only 253 have been convicted, making the conviction rate a meagre 2.4 per cent," Tharoor said.
While speaking to ANI, the Congress leader said, "Innocent people are being implicated by the UAPA, this bill should be used in terrorist cases, but right now many cases are seen where a person arrested under UAPA is not even prosecuted."
"The law should be scrapped. It should deal with real criminals and terrorists but we can't have a blanket law that presumes guilt, defines conspiracy loosely, arrests people left and right, doesn't charge them and then discovers they shouldn't be convicted," he added.
Last year, Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai had informed the Rajya Sabha that as many as 4,690 people were arrested in different parts of the country under the UAPA in the last three years. Of these, only 149 had been convicted, according to the minister.
Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act is a law aimed at preventing unlawful activities in India. (ANI)