Thread by @barandbench

#SupremeCourt to shortly deliver judgment on whether mere membership of an 'unlawful association' is sufficient to constitute an offence under the #UAPA, or some overt act, over and above the membership, is a prerequisite to attract the penal provisions of UAPA

The verdict to be delivered by a bench of Justices MR Shah, CT Ravikumar and Sanjay Karol #SupremeCourtOfIndia

Justice Shah: present case is for reference to larger bench. Short issue before bench is whether Arup bhyan case and raneef case is correctly decided... whether mere membership of an 'unlawful association' is sufficient to constitute an offence under the #UAPA, or some overt act,… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

Justice Shah: we have to decided if reading down 10(1)(a) of UAPA was read down correctly by not hearing centre

We hold:

The constitutional validity of 10(1)(i) was not in the present case and centre was not heard in raneef case.. and some observation was made ...article… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

Justice Shah: in view of the above section 10(a)(i) should not have read down by this court especially when the constitutional validity of the section was not in question.

Justice Shah: now whether this court was correct in relying on the US case laws.. considering difference of law in the US... and that there is reasonable restriction... this court in arup bhuyan and in Raneef case has referred to US cases without relying on Indian case and… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

Justice Shah: Should 10(a)(i) be read down... we have considered the provisions and objectives of the UAPA... We have considered the history of UAPA.. and then we have considered the preamble of UAPA. aim of UAPA is to prevent certain unlawful activities and prevent the same...… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

Justice Shah: if such a person continues to be a part of this association they are acting against integration and sovereignty of the nation. thus Section 10(a)(i) does NOT SUFFER FROM ANY INFIRMITY OR WEAKNESS #UAPA

Justice Shah: Section 10(a)(i) cannot punish only if a person is member of an unlawful organisation it is only when notification under section 3 is issued against organisation and the section applies to the one who is and continues to be a member even after the section 3… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

Justice Shah: we hold that the judgments in Arup bhuyan, Raneef case is held not to be good law. Holding that there needs to be an overt act on part of the person is not good law. section 10(a)(i) is held to be valid. all hc decisions holding otherwise is overruled. #UAPA

SG Tushar Mehta: this will be a historical judgment to protect the sovereignty of our country. Immensely grateful. #UAPA