The increasing resort to exceptional laws is corroding India’s justice system
In June, the Supreme Court sent an important reminder on growing misuse and misapplication of extraordinary legislations in ordinary cases.
The court was hearing a case involving a clash between two parties in 2023 in which the Uttar Pradesh Gangsters and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act, 1986 was invoked.
It noted that such legislations cannot be wielded as instruments of harassment, particularly where political motivations may be at play. The constitutional guarantee of personal liberty acquires even greater significance when stringent extraordinary legislations are invoked, the court observed.
The bench said that the guidelines, framed by the Uttar Pradesh government in compliance with a Supreme Court ruling, to invoke the gangsters act were not met either. These guidelines included evidence of coordinated criminal activity and proof of violence, threats or intimidation.
The judgement criticises a troubling pattern: the growing normalisation of special laws in everyday policing and governance.
For instance, in 2021, the National Security Act, 1980, was invoked against Manipur journalist Kishorechandra Wangkhem, to detain him for a Facebook post criticising the state government, despite no evidence of any real threat to public order or national security.
Similarly, the misuse of anti-terror and preventive detention laws, has been well-documented.
According to a draft report by the Peoples Union for Civil Liberties analysing the National Crime Records Bureau data for 2015-2020, a...
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