As many as 5,128 cases under the stringent anti-terror law UAPA and 229 on charges of sedition have been lodged across the country in a five-year period from 2015, Parliament was informed on Wednesday.
Manipur topped the charts in terms of cases lodged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, with the northeastern state alone accounting for 1,786 or 34.82% of the total cases.
Minister of State for Home Affairs G Kishan Reddy tabled the data for a period of 2015 to 2019 in response to a query by Rajya Sabha MP Abdul Wahab.
The data, updated till Dec. 31, 2019, was based on a compilation by the National Crime Records Bureau, Reddy stated.
A total of 897 cases were lodged under the UAPA in 2015 followed by 922 in 2016, 901 in 2017, 1,182 in 2018 and 1,126 in 2019, it showed.
According to the data, 30 cases were lodged on charges of sedition in 2015 followed by 35 in 2016, 51 in 2017, 70 in 2018 and 93 in 2019.
Manipur lodged 522 cases under UAPA in 2015 followed by 327 in 2016, 330 in 2017, 289 in 2018 and 306 in 2019 — the maximum among all states and union territories during the period except for 2018 when Assam had 308 such cases, it showed.
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In terms of sedition cases, Bihar topped the list in 2015 with nine such cases followed by Haryana in 2016 with 12 cases, Assam in 2017 with 19, Jharkhand in 2018 with 18 and Karnataka in 2019 with 22 cases.
Reddy replied in the negative on whether it is also a fact that the provision of UAPA is being used callously against minorities and backward sections of the society.
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