Provision to declare person as terrorist under UAPA Bill 'unconstitutional', says Sibal

Congress leader Kapil Sibal on Thursday called the provision to declare a person as terrorist under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Bill 2019 as 'meaningless' and 'unconstitutional'.

"This open-ended declaration of a private person as a terrorist is meaningless and unconstitutional. It will be struck down (in court) and you will have to send it to a standing committee or a select committee," Sibal said in the Rajya Sabha.

The Congress leader raised the lack of clarity in the provisions and said that the government will misuse the provisions.

"The bill does not clearly state at what stage you will declare a person to be a terrorist. You will declare the people speaking against you as a terrorist," he said.

According to the National Crimes Records Bureau, the conviction rate in cases under this act was less than 27.3 per cent in 2014, Sibal said.

"We are one against terrorism in this house but we also need to keep in mind the ground realities. We need to send these controversial provisions must be sent to a committee," Sibal said.

"The house needs to make sure that people don't waste years of their lives locked in prisons without bail just to be acquitted later," he added.