UAPA tribunal upholds MHA ban against seven Meitei extremist organizations

Sub: Polity

Sec: Legislation

Context:

A tribunal under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) has upheld the Centre’s decision to declare seven valley based Meitei extremist organizations as “unlawful associations” for the next five years.

More on news:

In the past five years, the seven outfits were responsible for 335 of 689 violent incidents reported in Manipur, in which nine security personnel and 21 civilians were killed.
The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) informed the tribunal that the outfits through their front organizations and civil society groups are also engaged in targeting non-local population, protesting against peace talks of authorities with other ethnic groups of the State, boycotting national days like Republic Day, and opposing merger of Manipur with Indian Union.
The ministry said that the insurgent groups were initially declared as unlawful associations in 1979 and since then the declarations have been continuously extended, last on November 13, 2018.

Order of the tribunal:

An order by Justice Sanjay Kumar Medhi said that the tribunal concurs with the opinion of the Central government that if there is no immediate curb and control of the seven outfits, they will take the opportunity to mobilize their cadres for escalating their secessionist, subversive and violent activities.

About UNLAWFUL ACTIVITIES PREVENTION ACT (UAPA):

UAPA was passed in 1967.
It aims at effective prevention of unlawful activities associations in India.
Unlawful activity refers to any action taken by an individual or association intended to disrupt the territorial integrity and sovereignty of India.
The 2004 amendment added “terrorist act” to the list of offenses to ban organizations for terrorist activities, under which 34 outfits were banned.
Till 2004, “unlawful” activities referred to actions related to secession and cession of territory.
In August, Parliament cleared the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Bill, 2019 to designate individuals as terrorists on certain grounds provided in the Act.
The Act empowers the Director General of National Investigation Agency (NIA) to grant approval of seizure or attachment of property when the case is investigated by the said agency.

About Meities:

The Meitei people, Meetei,Meithei, Manipuri people are an ethnic group native to Manipur, they are also known as Kathe in Myanmar, Mogli in Tripura.
They belong to the Mongoloid race and Tibeto-Burman language family in Northeast India.
They form the largest and dominant ethnic group of Manipur in Northeast India.
They speak the Meitei language (officially called Manipuri), one of the 22 official languages of the Indian Republic and the sole official language of Government of Manipur and it is also a associated official language of four districts( Hojai, Cachar, Hailakandi, Karimganj) of Assam.