UPA govt brought amendments to UAPA: Owaisi blames Congress for prolonged detention of Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam

Owaisi said, "The Supreme Court did not grant bail to two undertrial accused, and the Supreme Court explained why it did not grant bail. During the UPA government, the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act was amended, and included a definition of what constitutes terrorism."

All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi came down heavily on Congress for its alleged role in strengthening the stringent provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). He alleged that the amendments introduced by Congress, when P Chidambaram was the Union Home Minister, have resulted in prolonged incarceration of undertrial prisoners, including scholars Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam.

Speaking at the event here, Owaisi said, "The Supreme Court did not grant bail to two undertrial accused, and the Supreme Court explained why it did not grant bail. During the UPA government, the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act was amended, and included a definition of what constitutes terrorism." The AIMIM chief said that during a speech in the Lok Sabha earlier, he had questioned certain provisions of the UAPA, labelling them "subjective".

"I am referring to 2007 or 2008. I said in the Parliament: 'Kindly see section 15 (a) of the principal act that states 'by any other means of whatever nature to cause or likely to cause. This is a subjective thing, and tomorrow Arundhati Roy can be arrested for what she is writing. This is subjective, and who defines it?'" he said. Owaisi said the basis for refusing bail to Khalid and Imam was the same he had pointed out in his Lok Sabha speech.

"Using this very basis of 'by any other means', which the Congress had legislated, and about which I had already said that it would be misused, today two young men, who are in jail for five and a half years, didn't get bail. The people who made the law were from the Congress, and the Home Minister was Chidambaram. Has any leader of the Congress ever been in jail for one year, two years, or five and a half years since independence?" he added. He pointed to clause 43D of the UAPA, which allows detention of up to 180 days without a chargesheet, asserting that minorities are routinely kept in custody for the maximum period.

"This speech of mine is recorded in the Lok Sabha. I had talked about 180 days of detention under clause 43D: 'I can say with full confidence that in 100 per cent of the cases where minorities are arrested, they will be in detention for 180 days without a chargesheet'," he said. He further added, "I said that 'the ground reality is that there is a huge difference between truth and hope. The man in uniform harbours a kind of hatred. I said this is a fact as per Muslim Aqliyaat. I can say with full confidence that they will be detained for 180 days'."

This comes after the Supreme Court on Monday denied bail to Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam in a case about an alleged larger conspiracy behind the 2020 Delhi riots. However, the apex court granted bail to Gulfisha Fatima, Meeran Haider, Shifa Ur Rehman, and Mohd. Saleem Khan and Shadab Ahmad. (ANI)

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