The Government of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir has designated six courts of trial for offences under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA)-1967 in the Kashmir Valley, taking the total number of such courts to nine in the Valley.
In a notification, the government has notified six courts for the trial of offences under the UAPA in 10 districts of Kashmir.
The notification has been issued under the powers vested with the Union Territory administration under the National Investigation Act 2008. Earlier, there were only three designated courts for the trial of offences under the UAPA- 1967 in the Valley.
As per the notification, the additional sessions judge (TADA/POTA) Srinagar has been notified for districts of Srinagar and Ganderbal, additional district and sessions judge, Anantnag for district Anantnag, additional district and sessions judge, Baramulla for district Baramulla, additional district and sessions judge, Pulwama for districts Pulwama and Budgam, additional district and sessions judge (fast track court) Kulgam for districts Kulgam and Shopian and additional district and sessions judge, Bandipora for districts Bandipora and Kupwara.
Jammu and Kashmir tops in UAPA cases
According to the 2021 National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data, Jammu and Kashmir accounts for 97 percent of the total cases filed under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for terror-related offences. On average, 20-25 such cases filed under UAPA are taken up in courts in J&K daily. However, the conviction rate remains very low.
To tackle this, as part of a broader counter-terror strategy, the State Investigation Agency (SIA), on the lines of the National Investigation Agency (NIA), was set up in the year 2021, and, more recently, Special Investigation Units (SIUs) have been created in each police district.
A total of 1218 arrests have been made under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) between 2019 and 2021 and two people were convicted under the Act at the same time in Jammu and Kashmir.
In the year 2019, a total of 227 people were arrested in Jammu and Kashmir under UAPA of which 111 were in the age group of 18 to 30 years while 93 were in the group of 30 to 45 years. In 2020, 346 people were arrested and two of them were convicted under UAPA. 164 of them were in the age group of 18 to 30 years and 147 were in the age group of 30 to 45 years and two were juveniles.
In the year 2021, 645 people have been arrested of which seven were juveniles. 336 people among the arrested were in the age group of 18 to 30 years and 276 were in the age group of 30 to 45 years and 26 were in the age of 45 to 60 years.
Moreover, the data further revealed that over 2400 cases are pending investigation at several stages at the end of the years from 2019 to 2021.
