Mere links with terrorist organisation not enough to attract UAPA: Supreme Court

“Mere association with a terrorist organisation is not sufficient to attract section 38 of UAPA and mere support given to a terrorist organisation is not sufficient to attract section 39 of UAPA,” the Supreme Court observed.

The Supreme Court on Thursday observed that mere association with a terrorist organisation is not sufficient to attract action under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), as it granted bail to two Kerala students arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for alleged Maoist links.

The association and the support have to be with the intention of furthering the activities of a terrorist organisation, the Supreme Court observed.

“Mere association with a terrorist organisation is not sufficient to attract section 38 (punishment for being member of terrorist outfit) of UAPA and mere support given to a terrorist organisation is not sufficient to attract section 39 (offence related to support given to a terrorist outfit) of UAPA,” a bench of Justices Ajay Rastogi and Abhay S Oka said.

“The association and the support have to be with the intention of furthering the activities of a terrorist organisation,” the bench added. “We clarify that the observations and findings recorded in this judgment are only for the limited purposes of considering the applications for bail… The Special Court will not be influenced by the observations in this case,” it added.