Rushing to file cases under UAPA, Punjab Police fail to make charges stick in court

PATITLA/JALANDHAR: Even as Punjab Police has registered multiple cases under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in recent days, it has a bad track record of proving the serious charges in court. While opposition leaders attack the Congress government, claiming misuse of the law, the data shows that police under different regimes could not support their theories leading to around 50% of all the cases registered in Punjab under the stringent law falling flat in courts.
Of the 94 UAPA cases registered in Punjab till date, 47 were filed during the previous Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP government between 2009 and 2016, of which courts acquitted the accused in as many as 41 cases. The remaining 47 were registered under the Captain Amarinder Singh government from 2017 till now. Of these accused were let off by courts in six cases, while remaining cases are still pending in court.
First case under UAPA was registered under alleged Naxalite activists Jai Parkash Dubey of Jharkhand, along with two Punjabi men Harbans Singh and Manvir Singh, at Phillaur in Jalandhar on January 5, 2009. All three accused were later discharged.
Lawyer Jaspal Singh Manjhpur was also among the first in Punjab to be booked under the UAPA on August 27, 2009. He remained in jail for around a 1.5 years and was later acquitted.
“Use of UAPA in Punjab started after amendments added stringent provisions in 2008. Later, mainly Sikh activists were booked,” said Manjhpur, who has compiled data on such cases. He claimed the police were using a standard template to register FIRs, in which only the names were changed.
“In the most recent cases no crime has been executed. FIRs only mention intent of committing the crime,” he added. According to Manjhpur, total 370 persons have been booked under UAPA in 94 cases, while some faced multiple cases.
Another lawyer Brijendra Sodhi said these cases are generally based on tip offs, who is mentioned as ‘mukhbir khaas’ in the FIRs. These unknown persons were never identified in court, he added.
AAP rebel and former leader of the opposition in Punjab assembly, Sukhpal Khaira, who has been visiting houses of some of those booked under the law recently, has accused the state government of “using a draconian law to spread fear among people”.
“There is big dichotomy in what the Congress says in rest of the country and what it does in Punjab. Former Union ministers and advocates P Chidambram and Kapil Sibal strongly opposed the latest amendments in 2019, but in Punjab the law is being blatantly misused,” he alleged.
Call and message sent on DGP Dinkar Gupta’s mobile to ask about the reason of low conviction rate in UAPA cases went unanswered. Bureau of investigation director ADGP Arpit Shukla said, “I have joined recently and since these are special cases, I can only comment after checking records.” Shukla was transferred to the present post on June 15.