NEW DELHI: A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court against the Prevention of Illegal Activities Amendment Act (UAPA), 2019, passed by the central government recently passed by Parliament. The petition has sought to declare the law as unconstitutional. The amendment to the bill has given the Centre the right to declare a person as a terrorist.

The PIL, filed by Sajal Awasthi, a resident of Delhi, says that the Act violates the fundamental right to equality granted under Article 14 of the Constitution, the right to expression granted under article 19 and the right to life conferred under article 21. According to the petition, the recent amendment to the Act allowed a person to be declared a terrorist while only organizations under the UAPA, 1967, could have been declared as terrorists.

According to the petition, Section 35 of the UAPA, 2019 does not state the basis or reason for which a person can be declared a terrorist. So, this section gives arbitrary and arbitrary powers to the Government without any limitation or binding which is a violation of article 14 of the Constitution. The amended law also empowers to impose indirect sanctions on dissent in the name of prevention of terrorism, which is a violation of Article 19.

It also does not give an opportunity to the person who has been declared a terrorist to defend himself and has since been left to the trust of the society. So, it is a violation of Section 21. Even when the Bill was brought in Parliament, the Opposition strongly opposed it. But she did not stop the Government from getting it passed.

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