UAPA, 153A, PMLA: What do these laws have in common? | Data Point

Mohammed Zubair, Siddique Kappan, opposition politicians— what do they all have in common? They’ve all been booked under sections where getting bail is rare, and getting convicted is even rarer.

This is because laws like UAPA (Unlawful Activities (Prevention) act), PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) and, to a lesser extent, even section 153A and 295a, make it easy for the accuser to silence those charged. Since UAPA and PMLA are considered extremely serious, and bail is consequently far harder to get, compared to other laws, many of those accused end up in jail for longer periods.

This, coupled with a slow-moving judicial systems resulted in a spike in undertrials booked under these laws, particularly in the past few years. This episode takes a look at the data for convictions, charge sheets filed and the police pendency rate, to help us understand that these laws achieve a very different purpose than intended.

Script, presentation and production: Sonikka Loganathan
Videography, sound, editing, motion graphics, illustrations: Kannan Sundar
Ideation and data support: Vignesh Radhakrishnan

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