HC upholds constitutional validity of anti-terror law

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Thursday upheld the constitutional validity of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) ‘Act (UAPA).

- Karuna Nid!

Stating that the law sat rightly with the Constitution of India, the court dismissed the petition which sought to declare the enactment unconstitutional.

“The UAPA in its present form is constitutionally valid, therefore, the challenge to its vires fails, and the petition is dismissed,” stated the division bench of Justices Ajey Gadkari and Dr Neela Gokhale.

The petitioner, Anil Baburao Baile, had challenged the anti-terror law in the context of the Elgar Parishad case. On January 1, 2018, he went to the site of the Bhima Koregaon memorial commemorating the battle in which soldiers of the Mahar regiment died. An event organised by the Elgar Parishad to commemorate 200 years of the battle had been organised there as well as another one by a Hindutvavadi body. A scuffle broke out there, in which a passerby was killed.