Bengaluru: Home minister, Dr G. Parameshwar on Sunday said that the state government was committed to constitute a tribunal to conduct a fair trial of those booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
Speaking at the Minorities Rights Day event here, Dr Parameshwar rued that although the UAPA itself allows states to constitute tribunals to conduct a free trial, none of the states so far had thought of constituting one. "I assure you that the ruling Congress party will take steps to constitute the tribunal soon," he assured.
He added that once the tribunal is in place, no investigation agency will be able to take away alleged culprits without any prior notification of the tribunal. "Each agency will have to explain its case before the tribunal after booking a case against a person under the UAPA provisions," he explained.
State Minorities Commission chairman, Naseer Ahmed asserted that UAPA gives freedom to the police to interpret what constitutes ‘terrorism’ and ‘unlawful activity.’ It criminalises dissent: Section 15 defines terrorism vaguely. It also permits longer detention of terror suspects - upto six months without trial. These provisions violate fundamental rights," he argued.
