Asaduddin Owaisi calls UAPA ’ruthless’ amid Arundhati Roy case: ’If Modi 3.0 was expected to learn from election...’

All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi termed the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) "extremely ruthless", and said on Saturday that the law "ruined" the lives of thousands of Muslim, Dalit and tribal youth who were held under the UAPA law.

Owaisi's statement came after Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena sanctioned the prosecution of author Arundhati Roy under the Indian Penal Code's (IPC) section 45 (1) of the UAPA. The action was taken in connection with a case relating to her provocative speeches at a public function in 2010.

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The prosecution was also sanctioned against Sheikh Showkat Hussain, former Professor of international law at the Central University of Kashmir, in the same case.

Following the Delhi L-G's order, Owaisi posted on X, "The UAPA law is in discussion again today. This is an extremely cruel law due to which thousands of Muslim, Dalit and tribal youth were imprisoned and their lives were ruined."

"This law led to the death of an 85-year-old Stan Swamy," Owaisi said.

He said he has opposed the law at all stages. "This law was made more stringent by the Congress government in 2008 and 2012. Even then I had opposed it. In 2019, when the BJP again brought stricter provisions/restrictions on this, the Congress supported the BJP. I had opposed this law even then," he said.

"If there was an expectation from Modi 3.0 that they would learn something from the [Lok Sabha] election results, then he dashed this hope. This series of atrocities and atrocities will continue," the AIMIM chief said.

Unlike the BJP's performance in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha Elections, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led party failed to achieve a comfortable majority in the 543-member Lok Sabha in the recently concluded national elections.

The BJP won 240 seats in the 2024 polls, down from the 303 seats it had won in the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections.