SC to hear plea challenging UAPA charges against lawyers, journalist by Tripura govt

The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed for an early listing of plea challenging the invoking of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) provisions by the Tripura government against lawyers and a journalist over their social media posts regarding the recent communal violence in the state.

A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana said it will list the matter after advocate Prashant Bhushan mentioned the plea before it for early hearing.

The petition challenged the Tripura Police's decision to invoke UAPA against lawyers Mukesh Kumar and Ansarul Haq Ansari over their social media posts and statements, and journalist Shyam Meera Singh for tweeting "Tripura Burning".

After the Tripura police booked them for offences punishable under the UAPA, petitioners then moved the apex court seeking to quash the first information report (FIR) registered against them.

The police slapped UAPA charges against lawyers who were part of a team which published a fact-finding report about the recent communal violence in the state.

"The petition is filed in relation to the targeted political violence against the Muslim minorities in the State of Tripura during the second half of the month of October 2021, and the subsequent efforts by the State of Tripura to monopolize the flow of information and facts emanating from the affected areas by invoking provisions of the UAPA against members of civil society including advocates and journalists who have made the effort to bring facts in relation to the targeted violence in the public domain," the plea stated.

The plea filed by Kumar, Ansari and Singh, said, "The petitioners are seeking quashing qua the petitioners herein of the FIR. The petitioners are also challenging the constitutional validity of Section 2(1)(o) r/w Section 13 of the UAPA and provision pertaining to bail under Section 43(d)(5) of the UAPA."

( With inputs from ANI )

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