All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) supremo Asaduddin Owaisi on Saturday expressed concern over the future of Muslims, tribals and Dalits detained under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). The Hyderabad MP sarcastically said he hoped Prime Minister Narendra Modi would learn something from the Lok Sabha election results, but the election results have put a damper on his hopes.
“The UAPA Act is in the news again today. It is an extremely cruel law which has led to the imprisonment of thousands of Muslim, Dalit and tribal youth and ruined their lives,” Owaisi said in a post on X.
The AIMIM leader further alleged that the draconian law was responsible for the death of 85-year-old Stan Swami. Swami, a tribal activist, died in judicial custody in 2021. He was arrested under UAPA in connection with the 2018 Bhima Koregaon riots case.
Owaisi spoke in the lower house of the Indian parliament against the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Bill, 2019, accusing Parliament of enacting the UAPA law.
“The law was made tougher by the Congress governments in 2008 and 2012 and I opposed it then too. In 2019, when the Bharatiya Janata Party again introduced tougher provisions and exemptions, the Congress supported the Bharatiya Janata Party. I opposed the law then too,” he said.
“We had hoped that Modi 3.0 would learn something from the election results but they have dashed our hopes. This string of atrocities and excesses will continue,” he added.
Earlier this week, Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena approved the prosecution of Booker Prize-winning author Arundhati Roy and former international law professor at the University of Central Kashmir Sheikh Shaukat Hussain in a case involving allegedly making provocative public speeches in 2010.
According to an official at the LG Secretariat, a First Information Report (FIR) in the case was registered on November 28, 2010 on the directions of the capital magistrate on the offence of sedition involving inciting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence and language and making accusations and allegations prejudicial to national integration.
Roy and Hussain are said to have delivered provocative speeches at a meeting held under the slogan “Azadi – The Only Way” at the LTG Auditorium, Copernicus Marg, New Delhi on October 21, 2010. The issue discussed and spoken about at the meeting was allegedly propagating “separation of Kashmir from India”.
Meanwhile, the results of the Lok Sabha elections were a setback for both parties, with the BJP failing to cross a majority of 272 seats this time, unlike the 282 and 303 seats it won in its second term in 2014 and 2019 respectively, and the Indian Union failing to come to power.
According to the Election Commission of India, the BJP won 240 seats, a significant drop from the 303 it won in 2019. Meanwhile, the Indian National Congress gained a significant number of seats, winning 99 seats. The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) secured 293 seats, while the INDIA bloc won over 230 seats, defying expectations in a tight contest.
