Story in Numbers: Pending cases under UAPA on the rise, shows data

Each year (between 2014 and 2020), on an average, 985 cases under the UAPA were registered and the number of pending cases rose by 14.38% every year

Mohammed Ilyas, 38, and Mohammed Irfan, 33, were arrested in August 2012 by Maharashtra's Anti-Terrorist Squad under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) (among other charges) and accused of being linked to terror outfit Lashkar-e-Toiba. After being in jail for nine years, they were cleared of all charges by court, owing to lack of evidence, and released on June 2021.

This is neither the first time nor the last that the UAPA has made headlines for alleged wrongful arrest. In fact, this month, police in Tripura are facing ire for invoking the UAPA against 102 social media account holders, including