‘UAPA overused, if not misused’: SC judge Ujjal Bhuyan flags low convictions

New Delhi/Bengaluru, Mar 23: Supreme Court Judge Justice Ujjal Bhuyan has asserted that the goal of a Viksit Bharat by 2047 cannot be achieved through criminalisation of dissent, mindless arrests under the anti-terror law UAPA and "deep social fault lines".

Raising serious concerns over the application of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), he referred to the data from 2019 to 2023 and said a truly developed nation must prioritise constitutional values over political slogans.

"Low convictions under UAPA show overuse, if not misuse, of the law," Justice Bhuyan said, while speaking at the first national conference of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) in Bengaluru on Sunday.

Presenting data from 2019 till 2023 of the people arrested under the UAPA, he said thousands were arrested, but the conviction rate is around 5%.

"It shows consistently low conviction. What does it indicate, overuse if not misuse, and its impact on the criminal justice system. How much burden does it put on courts? This shows the vast majority were arrested but could not be convicted. This indicates many arrests were premature and unsupported by sufficient evidence," the judge said.

Justice Bhuyan also lamented the poor representation of women in the higher judiciary.

He contrasted it with the figure of more than 50% women making it to the posts of judicial officers in district judiciary across the country.

"But has it been replicated in constitutional courts? That is the question. That is where the scrutiny of the collegium system comes in. Why is it that when the assessment becomes subjective, women do not make the grade? Out of 287 SC judges since 1950, we had a total of only 11 women judges. Why? Starting with Fathima Beevi and now Justice Nagarathna, it is some two per cent," Justice Bhuyan said.

He said that as per the collegium's subjective assessment criteria, only a minuscule get selected as judges of high courts and the Supreme Court.

On the low representation of women in higher judiciary, he said they made up only 14% of High Court judges.

"In the 25 HCs, we have only two women chief justices (CJs) - Gujarat and Meghalaya. One more will become CJ in a month's time. That is also highly inadequate, three out of 25 HCs," he said.

PTI