Under the joint platform called "People’s Movement Against UAPA", (Unlawful Activities Prevention Act), a convention would be held here on Thursday at Acharya Narendradeo library.
The convention would be addressed by senior Supreme Court advocate Ashok Agarwal, a social activist, Navaid Hamid who is also member of All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat and secretary, South Asian Council for Minorities (SACM); Muhammad Shafi from Rajasthan, veteran journalist lS Herdenia, Advocate Sajid Siddiqui and other intellectuals.
The convention in Bhopal is part of the national campaign against UAPA being held in all the state capitals and the national capital Delhi.
Notably, 80 prominent community leaders, activists and lawyers from across the country in a meeting held at India International Centre in New Delhi on January 23 decided to undertake nationwide campaign to repeal the anti-people law UAPA.
The meeting observed that after the repeal of draconian laws namely POTA and TADA, the amended version of UAPA has become a new tool to falsely implicate innocents in cases.To coordinate and monitor the activities, a joint platform called People’s Movement Against UAPA was announced in the meeting.
Maulana Muhammed Wali Rahmani was unanimously nominated to be the chairman of the core committee of the Movement while Kamal Farooqui and Muhammed Shafi were named convener and joint convener respectively.
Advocate Sajid Siddiqui in a statement here said that the basic reason for the prolonged detention of innocents, especially Muslims, in various parts of the country as accused under terror charges, is the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act or UAPA in short.
The original act of 1967 was amended three times in 2004, 2008 and 2012 making it more draconian. By adding new clauses to the original law by these amendments, it has now become more inhuman than the previous special laws TADA and POTA.
The under-trials framed in UAPA are not granted bail for a long period, in most cases till the end of trial in which their innocence is proved. So, it is evident that unless and until UAPA is withdrawn the unending saga of innocents in jails will continue, he added.