Satya Mohanty
Former Secretary, GOvt of India
Regardless of the regime, the exercise of State power against the citizens in India has often been far from benign. It has mostly been brutal, to say the least. What has happened of late is the expansion of the definition of crime to include IPC offences under draconian special laws like UAPA (Unlawful Activities Prevention Act), a kind of carte blanche for acting with impunity, with the judiciary being largely ineffective as a bulwark against such use of excessive and arbitrary powers. In addition, a discriminatory legalism has come in. Dissidents get the wrong end of it, while those close to the establishment can fearlessly move ahead.
Decoded | Spotlight on terror law UAPA after Stan Swamy s death indiatoday.in - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from indiatoday.in Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
971 SAD STATE OF AFFAIRS: Natasha Narwal was booked under the UAPA for her alleged role in the Delhi riots. She was later granted interim bail for attending the last rites of her father. PTI
Keki Daruwalla
Author and Columnist
RECOVERING unsteadily from Covid-19, one had to choose between two titles, ‘Pinjra Tod’ and ‘Shav-vahini Ganga’, the poem by Gujarati poet Parul Khakkar, which caused ripples in the US and Gujarat these two months. Such was the fury of the right-wingers on reading the poem that about 28,000 misogynist and abusive epithets were hurled at the poor lady, who wrote down the sad narrative of corpses being carried by the Ganga.