‘Baseless, unfounded’: India on UN body statement on Khurram Parvez’s arrest https://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-united-nations-rights-body-khurram-parvez-arrest-7652198/  
🔴 The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights had also expressed concern over “crackdown on civil society actors”, use of “sweeping counter-terrorism measures”, and killings of civilians.

 

the Indian government on Thursday called the statement “baseless and unfounded” and said that the “arrest and subsequent detention” was done “entirely as per provisions of law”. “It also betrays a complete lack of understanding on the part of the OHCHR of the security challenges faced by India from cross-border terrorism and its impact on the most fundamental human right ‘the Right to Life’ of our citizens including in Jammu and Kashmir.”    

Bagchi, while replying to queries regarding the statement, said, “Referring to proscribed terrorist organisations as ‘armed groups’ demonstrates a clear bias on the part of OHCHR. As a democratic country, with an abiding commitment to promote and protect the human rights of its citizens, India takes all necessary steps to counter cross border terrorism.”

OHCHR, on Wednesday, had expressed concern over the detention and urged the government to “fully safeguard” his rights. The OHCHR had also expressed concern over “crackdown on civil society actors”, use of “sweeping counter-terrorism measures”, and killings of civilians.

“We are deeply concerned at the arrest of Kashmiri human rights defender Khurram Parvez under Indian counter-terrorism legislation, the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA),” OHCHR spokesperson Rupert Colville had said in a statement. 

OHCHR, on Wednesday, had expressed concern over the detention and urged the government to “fully safeguard” his rights. The OHCHR had also expressed concern over “crackdown on civil society actors”, use of “sweeping counter-terrorism measures”, and killings of civilians.

“We are deeply concerned at the arrest of Kashmiri human rights defender Khurram Parvez under Indian counter-terrorism legislation, the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA),” OHCHR spokesperson Rupert Colville had said in a statement.

 

2021 - 12 - Rajya Sabha - UAPA_cases Persons Arrested & Aquitted - 2019-2020 - 01Dec2021. https://1drv.ms/b/s!AiXYIRE1zsiakgmBfmsS3UHFaMJW?e=PUVZl1 
 
The latest figures of UAPA Arrests and Acquitted were presented in Rajya Sabha yesterday.
In 2019, 1948 Persons were arrested under UAPA and 92 persons were Aquitted.
In 2020, 1321 persons were arrested and 116 persons were acquitted.

Comment:  Caution: Don't get depressed seeing that only so few people are acquitted as trials take years to conclude and so these figures are not the barometer of Rate of Conviction. Conviction Rate is calculated in 2 ways: Conviction rate by number of cases; and Conviction rate by Number off persons arrested.

My team has calculated the Conviction Rate by Number of cases between 2015 - 2020 to be 27.57%. In sharp contrast, the Conviction Rate by number of persons is 2.80%. The latter figure is what is normally used and is a more reliable index.

I think that because the media has been showing poor conviction rate, the Ministry of Home Affairs in their reply to Rajya Sabha on 01st December, 2021 contrasts Number of persons arrested with Number of persons acquitted as though to make the impression that larger numbers of people are convicted, which is not a fact. SO calling attention to this play of statistics.

Prime Time With Ravish Kumar: UAPA, NSA, PASA, NDPS, ये कानून हैं या फंसाने की बेड़ियां? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-tq5hn64v8 Nov 10, 2021

Prime Time With Ravish Kumar - November 10, 2021: अगर आप कुछ खास तरह की खबरों को निकाल कर उन्हें एक क्रम में रख कर देखेंगे, तो वह लकीर दिख जाएगी जिससे आपके नागरिक होने के अधिकार का दायरा, छोटा किया जा रहा है. इसे शिकंजा कसना कहते हैं. गर्दन तक हाथ पहुंच गया है, दबाया भी जा रहा है, रहमत इतनी है कि मारा नहीं जा रहा है.

 

 

Prime Time With Ravish Kumar: Is UAPA Being Abused By The State To Suppress Individual Freedom? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AAD5S9yxSw Nov 19, 2021

Prime Time With Ravish Kumar - November 10, 2021: Ravish Kumar asks whether various stringent laws are being passed only to suppress individual freedom of citizens and for the state to exercise more control over its citizens. Shyam Meera Singh, a journalist from Tripura along with several others have been booked by the Tripura police under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. According to reports, Singh was booked for tweeting "Tripura is burning". UAPA, NSA, PASA, NDPS are some of the acts which make it difficult for the accused to obtain a bail and many of these cases have been quashed by the courts. (Audio in Hindi)

UAPA Against Lawyers 'Govt. Hiding Own Incompetence by Silencing Us' | Tripura Violence  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQCqhfXge9Y  Nov 6, 2021

UAPA notices have been sent to over 60 people for their Twitter posts in connection with Tripura violence.

A day after a fact-finding team released a report which highlighted anti-Muslim violence in the state of Tripura, two advocates who were a part of the team and had authored the report, Ansar Indori, secretary of the National Confederation of Human Rights and Mukesh, who works for the Union for Civil Liberties, has been charged with Section 13 of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).

Both lawyers have also been charged under Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 120 (B), 153 (A), 153 (B), 469, 471, 503, 504, among others, which include charges of criminal conspiracy, promoting enmity between groups, forgery and provoking breach of peace.

The advocates were a part of a four-member fact-finding team that had visited the state on October 29-30 in order to document the tensions in the region following reports of anti-Muslim violence in the state. The report, titled ‘Humanity under attack in Tripura; #Muslim lives matter’, documented the vandalisation of at least 12 mosques, nine shops and three houses belonging to Muslim families.

Tripura Violence: UAPA Charges Levied Against Lawyers From Fact-Finding Team  https://thewire.in/communalism/tripura-violence-uapa-charges-levied-against-lawyers-from-fact-finding-team Two lawyers, Ansar Indori and Mukesh, have been booked by the West Agartala police after they authored and released the report 'Humanity under attack in Tripura; #Muslim lives matter'.

A day after a fact-finding team released a report which highlighted anti-Muslim violence in the state of Tripura, two advocates who were a part of the team and had authored the report, Ansar Indori, secretary of the National Confederation of Human Rights and Mukesh, who works for the Union for Civil Liberties, have been charged with Section 13 of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). The report said that right wing extremist organisations such as the Bajrang Dal, Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Hindu Jagaran Manch held protests and rallies after several Durga Puja pandals and temples in Bangladesh were vandalised on October 15, in a bid to evoke violence against the minority Muslim population of the state. The report also stated that, “During the rallies, Hindutva mobs raised slogans insulting Prophet Mohammad and copies of the Holy Quran were burnt by rioters while attacking mosques and Muslim houses.”  

Supreme Court To Hear Plea Of Journalist To Nix Tripura Anti-Terror Case https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGmTL6JdTgw 
Nov 11, 2021 The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a plea by journalist Shyam Meera Singh and two others that seeks to quash a Tripura Police FIR under controversial anti-terror law UAPA for social media posts - including Mr Singh's "Tripura is burning" tweet - made during violence in the state last month.