SC issues notice to Centre on PIL challenging UAPA amendment validity

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File photo of the Supreme Court.

New Delhi, September 6: Supreme Court on Friday issued a notice to the Centre on a PIL challenging the constitutional validity of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Act, 2019. 

The law has been recently used to declare Dawood Ibrahim, Masood Azhar, Hafiz Saeed and Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi terrorists.  A Bench headed by the Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said that it will examine the amended anti-terror law.  

Advocate Sajal Awasthi and Association for Protection of Civil Rights have challenged the UAPA Amendment Act on the grounds that it violated articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution. They said the new law violated the basic tenants of the Constitution.The plea maintained that the changes violated fundamental rights and empowered agencies to declare a person a terrorist.