Humanising Anti-Terror Laws: India And The World
- IJLLR Journal
- Aug 20
- 1 min read
Aujaswi Maken, Associate, Khaitan & CoBatch of 2025, The West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata
ABSTRACT
Over the last two decades, countries around the world have enacted increasingly stringent laws to regulate terror-related activities. Often justified on the grounds of national security and the necessity of maintaining public order, these laws grant extensive and unchecked powers to the State. They provide for a framework whereunder fundamental rights guaranteed by instruments such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) can be legitimately curtailed upon by the State. India has been no exception this trend. The Indian Government, over the last decade, has used to laws like the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) to arrest critics under the garb of national security. Individuals arrested under anti-terror laws have been denied bail for years, and have been kept in jail without being told the reasons behind their arrest. Moreover, the UAPA has been amended to give unrestricted powers to the Union Government without any corresponding mechanism to prevent its misuse.
This paper aims to analyze how Indian anti-terror laws are increasingly becoming incompatible with the fundamental rights guaranteed by Part III of the Constitution. Further, it compares Indian terror laws to the anti-terror laws passed in foreign jurisdiction and basis that, gives recommendations to align Indian terror laws with the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution.
