The UAPA applies to anyone who commits a UAPA crime in India or outside India.1 It applies to Indian citizens irrespective of where the crime is committed and also includes people in Government service, and people on ships and aircrafts registered in India.
Types of persons
Apart from individuals, the UAPA also applies to2:
Sedition(( Section 124A, Indian Penal Code, 1860.)) is a crime against the State, meaning a crime where violence or public disorder is caused amongst the people as they have been incited against the government. A crime of defamation(( Section 499, Indian Penal Code, 1860.)) is against a person or a group of persons, where words or visual representations affect their reputation.
No, a lot of countries have abolished or amended the sedition law. Some of them are the United Kingdom, Korea and Malaysia.
Yes, foreigners can be booked for acts of sedition under the law.(( Section 124A, Indian Penal Code, 1860.))
If your speeches are honest concerns and have not further posed any threat to causing any public disorder or violence against the government, there will not be any sedition charges against you. You would be liable for an act of sedition if you have attempted or encouraged people to resort to violence. Under the law it is known as exciting disaffection.
No, you cannot be booked for such an act, unless it leads to violence or exciting disaffection against the government.
No, it does not apply to all the North Eastern States. AFSPA, is not applicable in the states of Sikkim, Meghalaya and Tripura. Certain areas of Arunachal Pradesh and Imphal, Manipur are also not covered under the law.
The Armed Forces Tribunal has been made for the trial of persons in the Armed Forces, which may include persons from the Army, Navy or Airforce. The Tribunal looks into disputes and complaints with respect to appointments, conditions of service, disciplinary proceedings etc. The main branch of the Tribunal is in New Delhi but it has regional branches at Chandigarh, Lucknow, Kolkata, Guwahati, Chennai, Kochi, Mumbai and Jaipur. The tribunals follow the normal procedure as practiced in the High Courts of India and all the proceedings are in English. Persons who are not in the armed forces cannot approach this Tribunal as this is only meant for the armed forces and their trial.
Jammu and Kashmir is divided into three divisions i.e. Jammu (10 districts), Kashmir Valley (10 districts) and Ladakh (2 districts). AFSPA applies only to the division of Kashmir Valley.
The AFSPA gives too much power to the Armed Forces, even to extent of killing someone only on the grounds of suspicion. This has been seen as opposed to the right to life as granted by the Constitution of India.
One can get bail depending upon the nature of the crime. The court will decide whether a person can be granted bail or not. Unlike in normal cases, under AFSPA the police can detain a person for a longer duration. The normal rule of producing a person before a magistrate within 24 hours does not apply in the case of AFSPA.
Yes, women can be booked under AFSPA.
Under this law the armed forces do not bother the civilians unless there are some grave situations. One can freely go to Kashmir as a tourist.
AFSPA can be revoked when the situation in a disturbed area turns to normal. The government has done that in many areas, such as in the state of Tripura in 2015 and from Punjab and Chandigarh in 1997.
Yes, as of now AFSPA is applicable in states where there are armed rebel groups and which become disturbed due to activities of these groups.
The State Governments can suggest whether the situation in the state demands implementation of AFSPA or not. However, the Governor or the Central Government can either accept or reject such a suggestion.
You can only file a case against an army personnel, in a civil court in situations when there is special permission from the Central Government. However, the armed forces, under their own rules and regulations, have their own courts to try their officers (for offences specified under their own rules and regulations). These courts are called the Armed Force Tribunal.
Any person who regularly influences public servants through illegal means or uses business relationships to influence public servants can be sent to jail for a period of 5 to 10 years and can also be asked to pay a fine.
You can still be punished if you took the money and made the person who bribed you, believe that you were responsible for the favour. For example, you take Rs. 20,000 from Ravi after making him believe that he got the job with the Forest Department because of your connections with the head of the Forest Department. Even if you did not actually have any connections with the head of the Forest Department, you will still be breaking this law.
You can still be punished. For example, you are a junior officer in the Bhopal Municipality and you accept a bribe from Ravi promising to give his company approval to build a tank in the locality, but you know that as a junior officer you do not have the power to give the approval. You can still be punished under this law.
No, salary, house allowance, pension payment and all payments that the public servant gets for his work are not considered bribes.
Yes, if the police think that you are breaking this law they can check your banker’s books in connection with your crime. They can also check the banker’s books of another person who might be holding money on your behalf. They can do this without a warrant.
Yes, if you as a public servant try to steal or sell property given to you as part of your work or take gifts or money unlawfully, you can be punished. It does not matter that you did not succeed. You can be sent to jail for a period of 3 to 7 years and can also be asked to pay a fine.
Example: Mukesh is a police officer. His superior officer has given him gold jewelry for safekeeping, which was returned by a thief during police questioning. Mukesh tries to sell it to Ravi, but the senior officer sees them and stops him. Even though Mukesh failed he is still breaking this law.
You are a public servant if you are:
You can also be considered a public servant if you are:
When anyone tries to bring hatred or contempt or excites disaffection towards the government, they have committed an act of sedition. An act of sedition has to be done through one of the following ways:
The result of an act of sedition should be violence or public disorder or an attempt to cause violence/public disorder.1
The Supreme Court has held in various judgments that the law of sedition is only applicable where:
For example, Shri Rampal, the leader of a village, gives a speech where he asks the people to rebel against the Government so that they can secede from India. This leads to a lot of hatred against the Government along with public disorder and riots. Shri Rampal would be held liable for an act of sedition.
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