Context:

The Democracy Report 2020 by V-Dem Institute claimed that India is on the verge of losing its status as a democracy. However, much attention is required on the widespread use of the anti-terror law — the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 or UAPA — in a growing number of instances.

Background:

• V-Dem is an independent research institute based at the University of Gothenburg
• The institute calls itself the world’s largest data collection project on democracy.
• India is on the verge of losing its status as a democracy due to the severely shrinking of space for the media, civil society.
  • Dramatic erosion of basic civil liberties, particularly media freedom and suppression of the freedoms of free speech and dissent as the key reasons for this major dip.

The report says

• The 2020 report, titled ‘Autocratisation Surges – Resistance Grows’, begins with figures that point to the fact that globally, the spirit of democracy is on the decline.
• For the first time since 2001, autocracies are in the majority and comprise 92 countries that are home to 54% of the global population.
• Major G20 nations and all regions of the world are now part of the “third wave of democratization” which is affecting major economies with sizeable populations, like India, Brazil, the US, and Turkey.
• India has continued on a path of steep decline, to the extent, it has almost lost its status as a democracy.

The problems with the UAPA

• The UAPA was enacted in 1967 to promote and ensure national integration.
• Power to declare an organization as unlawful and arrest of any member connected directly or indirectly.
• UAPA does not provide a judicial mechanism for organizations listed as unlawful to challenge such a designation.
• The recent amendment enables the center to designate individuals as terrorists and arrest them under preventive detention.