There is an increase of 17.9% in the number of cases registered in India under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) during the year 2022. According to the 2022 crime report released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), as many as 1,005 cases were registered under the controversial UAPA Act in 2022. The highest number of UAPA cases in 2022 was reported from the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir with 371 of them registered in various police stations.
The UAPA Act of 2019, an amendment to the 1967 Act, allows special procedures to deal with crimes related to terrorism, empowering the Union government to designate an organisation or individual as a terrorist on certain grounds. There was a lot of criticism in the Parliament when the Bill was introduced in 2019, with the opposition parties calling it draconian, and having possibilities of misuse. However, the Bill was passed in both the Houses and given assent by the President in August 2019.
The number of cases registered under the UAPA in 2020 was 796. This increased to 814 in 2021 and to 1,005 in 2022. Among the states, Manipur, which has been going through months of conflict, has the most number of cases with 167, followed by Assam with 133 and Uttar Pradesh with 101.
Among the south states, Kerala has the most number of recorded cases at 23, followed by Andhra with 13 cases. Four cases each have been recorded in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and none in Telangana.
The numbers also reflect in the records of juveniles in conflict with the law. Out of the 17 UAPA cases registered against juveniles in 2022, 13 are from Jammu and Kashmir.