10,000 ARRESTS, ZERO PROOF: UNMASKING THE UAPA AS A TOOL FOR MASS DETENTION AND SYSTEMIC SUPPRESSION

1. THE ARCHITECTURE OF INJUSTICE: HOW UAPA AND COUNTER-TERROR LAWS ARE DISMANTLING KASHMIR

1.1 The Facade of Prosecution

The recent sentencing of two Kashmiri men by a Special National Investigation Agency (NIA) Court in Delhi is a chilling reminder of how the Indian state uses the legal system to cement its control. While these sentences are framed as “justice,” they are merely the tip of a massive ice-berg of state suppression. This isn’t about evidence; it is about the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), a law that has become the primary weapon for the systematic targeting of Jammu and Kashmir. The data provided by the Government of India and the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) tells a story of a region under a permanent legal siege.

1.2 A Law Evolved for Absolute Control

The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, has been surgically transformed through amendments in 2004, 2008, 2012, and the final, most lethal blow in 2019. This legislation has moved far beyond its original scope. The 2019 amendment granted the state the terrifying power to designate an individual as a terrorist without any trial or proof, effectively bypassing the basic principles of human rights.

1.3 Section 43D(5): The Legal Noose

At the heart of this draconian framework lies Section 43D(5), a clause designed to ensure that the accused never sees the light of day. It kills the right to bail by forcing courts to accept the police’s version of the story as “prima facie” true. In the world of UAPA, you are guilty the moment you are arrested, and the burden of proving innocence lies buried under years of slow-moving litigation.

2. THE STATISTICAL WAR: DATA AS EVIDENCE OF REPRESSION

2.1 A Nationwide Surge in State Aggression

The NCRB data proves that the state’s reliance on UAPA is not accidental—it is a deliberate policy. The number of registered cases has exploded:

• 796 UAPA cases registered in 2020
• 814 cases in 2021
• 1,005 cases in 2022

This steady increase shows a state that is increasingly comfortable using “extraordinary” laws for “ordinary” dissent.

2.2 The Mass Arrest Machinery: 10,440 Lives Targeted

Based on Parliamentary responses citing NCRB data, the scale of arrests between 2019 and 2023 is nothing short of a mass dragnet. The state has snatched approximately 10,440 individuals from their families:

• 2019: 1,948 arrests
• 2020: 1,321 arrests
• 2021: 1,621 arrests
• 2022: 2,636 arrests
• 2023: 2,914 arrests

3. THE CONVICTION SCAM: JAIL WITHOUT PROOF

3.1 10,000 Arrests vs. 335 Convictions: The Fraud of Justice

The most damning indictment of the UAPA is the astronomical gap between arrests and convictions. Out of more than 10,000 arrests, there were only 335 convictions. This is not a failure of the police; it is a feature of the system. The goal of UAPA is not to prove a crime in court, but to use the process as the punishment. When only 3% of arrests lead to convictions, the law is clearly being used for preventive detention to silence the population.

3.2 The Stolen Years: Pre-Trial Torture

Because of the bail restrictions in Section 43D(5), many of the accused rot in high-security cells for 5 to 7 years or longer before their trial even begins. In complex cases, a person might spend a decade in jail only to be told they were innocent. The state does not care about the acquittal; it cares about the ten years it stole from the individual.

4. JAMMU AND KASHMIR: THE EPICENTER OF ENFORCEMENT

4.1 A Region Targeted by the Numbers

The state’s obsession with Jammu and Kashmir is visible in every data point. Despite its population size, J&K consistently records the highest volume of UAPA registrations:

• 287 UAPA cases in 2020
• 289 cases in 2021
• 371 cases in 2022

These confirmed government statistics prove that Kashmir is the primary laboratory for India’s most repressive legal experiments.

4.2 The August 5 Siege and Mass Detentions

The aftermath of the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5, 2019, saw a total suspension of civil liberties. The Government of India admitted in Parliament that 5,161 individuals were detained in Jammu and Kashmir alone. Independent academic analyses, using the state’s own data, reported that between 3,800 and 4,000 people were swept up in the early months of the post-2019 lockdown. These numbers reflect a deliberate policy of mass, arbitrary detention.

5. THE DEATH OF DUE PROCESS

5.1 The Final Tally of Repression

The verified data paints a dark picture of the current legal landscape:

• UAPA registrations climbed to 1,005 cases by 2022.
• Over 10,000 arrests in five years nationwide.
• A pathetic 335 convictions against thousands of shattered lives.
• Jammu and Kashmir recording hundreds of cases annually as a standard practice.
• 5,161 detentions acknowledged post-August 2019 in J&K.

5.2 Verdict on the System

The sentencing of individuals under UAPA is not a victory for the rule of law; it is the death of it. These figures, pulled from official government publications and parliamentary disclosures, prove that the state has replaced justice with incarceration. In Kashmir, the UAPA is not a shield against terror—it is a sword against the people. When a system makes arrest easy and conviction rare, it is no longer a democracy; it is a regime of fear where the “process” is designed to destroy before it ever tries to prove.