Tripura Violence: SC Posts Pleas By Journo, Lawyers Booked Under UAPA for 22 Nov

Recently, the Tripura Police had booked a journalist and other activists for offences punishable under the UAPA.

The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to hear a plea challenging the Tripura Police's decision to invoke the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) against several lawyers, activists and journalist Shyam Meera Singh.

(File Photo: PTI)

The Supreme Court on Friday, 12 November, posted the hearing on pleas filed by a journalist and two lawyers against the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) cases against them by Tripura Police for 22 November.

On Thursday, the apex court had agreed to hear the plea challenging the Tripura Police's decision to invoke the UAPA against several people. Initially, a bench headed by Chief Justice NV Ramana asked advocate Prashant Bhushan, representing the petitioners, to move the concerned high court in the matter, but later agreed to hear the plea.

On Friday, the petitioners were asked to serve notice of their petitions to the Tripura government. No interim orders have been issued at present by the apex court.

The petition in SC had been moved by lawyers Mukesh, Ansarul Haq Ansari, and journalist Shyam Meera Singh.

What Had Happened on Thursday?

On Thursday, Bhushan submitted before the bench, also comprising Justices AS Bopanna and Hima Kohli, that the petitioners are challenging the constitutional validity of certain widely misused provisions of the UAPA and the wide definition of 'unlawful activities'.

The petitioners said the present petition is being filed under Article 32 of the Constitution in relation to the targeted political violence against the Muslim minorities in Tripura in the second half of October 2021.

"The subsequent efforts by the State of Tripura to monopolise the flow of information and facts emanating from the affected areas by invoking provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, (hereinafter, UAPA) against members of civil society including advocates and journalists who have made the effort to bring facts in relation to the targeted violence in the public domain," said the plea.

According to the petition, the fact-finding report titled 'Humanity Under Attack in Tripura #Muslim Lives Matter,' published on 2 November by Lawyers for Democracy, has brought on record evidences into the orchestrated and targeted violence perpetrated by right-wing forces on the minority Muslim community in Tripura in October, reported IANS.

(With inputs from IANS.)