Bombay High Court upholds constitutional validity of UAPA, rejects sedition problem

The Bombay High Court on Thursday (July 17, 2025) dismissed the petitions difficult the constitutional validity of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and in addition of part 124A (sedition) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

A Division Bench comprising Justices A.S. Gadkari and Neela Gokhale held that the UAPA, in its present type, is constitutionally sound. The Court rejected the 2021 petition filed by Anil Baburao Baile, 46, a Mumbai resident, who was issued a discover by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in July 2020.

Mr. Baile had challenged the validity of the UAPA and amended it up-to-date, and part 124A of the Indian Penal Code, and prayed for a declaration of those legal guidelines as extremely vires and unconstitutional; and to quash and put aside the NIA discover issued to him. He mentioned that the that means of “illegal activists”, “terrorist”, and “sedition” must be examined. “Nowhere in Chapter IV of UAPA ‘Terrorist’ is outlined; what’s outlined is Terrorist Act in part 15. The phrase ‘Unlawful Activities’ is outlined in part 2(o) of the mentioned act, and ‘Sedition’ is outlined in part 124A of the IPC,” the petition mentioned.

Mr. Baile additional argued that the amendments made to UAPA—particularly these incorporating the 2001 UN Security Council decision on worldwide terrorism—enabled the federal government to arbitrarily designate Indian residents or organisations as terrorists with out enough safeguards or definitions.

“Nowhere does the Constitution authorise a blanket energy to the chief in deciding, and Parliament can’t be granted blanket energy to declare an organisation as illegal,” the petition contended.

The Bench discovered no advantage within the arguments and concluded that the provisions of the Act met constitutional muster and dismissed the petition. An in depth order is but to be uploaded.