Bombay HC dismisses plea challenging constitutional validity of UAPA

The Bombay High Court on Thursday dismissed a petition challenging the constitutional validity of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).

A bench of Justices A S Gadkari and Neela Gokhale said the Act in its present form was "constitutionally valid" and, hence, challenge to its vires fails.

The court dismissed a 2021 petition filed by one Anil Baburao Baile, who was issued notice in 2020 in connection with the Elgaar Parishad case by the National Investigation Agency.


Baile sought a declaration that the UAPA and also the now suspended Section 124A of Indian Penal Code (IPC) pertaining to sedition be declared as ultra vires and unconstitutional.

In his plea, Baile also sought the setting aside of the July 10, 2020 notice issued to him.

As per the petition, the provisions of UAPA granted "unbridled power' to the executive to declare an organisation or an individual and their activity unlawful without defining the same in the law.

The amendment made in the UAPA to adopt the United Nations Security Council's 2001 resolution, which was for criminalising any person supporting international terrorism, made it possible for the government to declare an Indian citizen or an organisation as a terrorist, the plea added.

"Nowhere does the Constitution authorise a blanket power to the executive in deciding and Parliament cannot be granted blanket power to declare an organisation as unlawful," Baile's plea claimed.