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The Supreme Court on Friday struck down its own 12-year-old judgment on membership of organizations banned under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) law. The court was giving its verdict on the review petition of the Center and the Assam government. A bench of Justices MR Shah, CT Ravikumar and Sanjay Karol overruled the 2011 verdict.
The bench said that if someone is a member of a banned organisation, then action can be taken under UAPA (Unlawful Atrocities Prevention Act), considering him as a criminal. That means there will be a case against him as well. The Court had commenced hearing on the review petition on February 8 and after hearing Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, Senior Advocate Sanjay Parikh, reserved the order.
First know what was the decision given in 2011 under UAPA
In 2011, the Supreme Court bench of Justice Markandeya Katju and Justice Gyan Sudha gave its judgment in Arup Bhuiyan v/s State of Assam, Indra Das v. State of Assam and State of Kerala v. Ranif.
The bench had said that mere being a member of a banned organization would not do anything. A person is not guilty unless he resorts to violence or incites people to violence, or tries to cause public disorder by inciting violence.
In 2014, a bench of Justice Deepak Mishra and Justice AM Sapre referred the matter to a larger bench. Then the central government filed an appeal saying that central laws were interpreted without listening to the government’s side.
The accused were acquitted in all the three cases
Arup Bhuiyan, accused of being a member of ULFA, had given the verdict on a bail application filed under TADA. On 3 February 2011, the SC acquitted Arup Bhuiyan. Who was convicted by the TADA court on the basis of his confessional statement. Earlier in the case of State of Kerala v/s Ranif (2011) the same view was taken by the same bench while deciding the bail application under UAPA. In the case of Indra Das also the same view was taken by the same bench.
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