Former Supreme Court judges raise concerns over misuse of UAPA

Point to trauma of kin of accused, conflating dissent with terrorism, ‘soft torture’ in prisons

Former Supreme Court judge, Justice Madan B. Lokur, on Saturday said the courts, society and the state should consider the mental trauma afflicted on the families of activists, journalists and civil society members accused of sedition under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and languishing in jail for months. Justice Lokur asked what kind of society is being built where the families and friends of these incarcerated people have to face barbs about their loved ones being branded traitors for expressing their dissent. “Look at the emotional, psychological impact on his family, him... His children... They will go to school where classmates will say your father is a ‘terrorist’ for something he has not done... We are not looking at the mental aspect,” Justice Lokur said in a virtual conference on ill-effects of UAPA and the law of sedition mediated by RTI activist Anjali Bhardwaj.