Mere possession of violent literature won't attract UAPA: SC

New Delhi, July 29

Mere holding of certain literature through which violent acts may be propagated would not attract provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, the Supreme Court has said.

A Bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Sudhanshu Dhulia, which granted bail to activists Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, said, “…prima facie, in our opinion, we cannot reasonably come to a finding that any case against the appellants under Section 15(1) (b) of UAPA can be held to be true.”

The NIA alleged that letters and other material recovered from the arrested co-accused, including Surendra Gadling and Rona Wilson, showed the involvement of Gonsalves and Ferreira with the CPI (Maoist), a proscribed outfit.

However, noting that actual involvement of Gonsalves and Ferreira in any terrorist act had not surfaced from any third-party communication, the SC said, “Mere holding of certain literatures through which violent acts may be propagated would not ipso facto attract the provisions of Section 15(1)(b) (use of criminal force or the show of criminal force or attempts to do so or cause the death of any public functionary) of the Act.”

The Bench said no evidence of their continued membership after the party was classified as a terrorist organisation had been brought to its notice. “Nor is there any reliable evidence to link Indian Association of People’s Lawyer (to which Ferreira belonged) with CPI (Maoist) as its frontal organisation,” it said.

The contents of the letters through which the appellants were sought to be implicated were in the nature of hearsay evidence, recovered from co-accused, it said.

“Moreover, no covert or overt terrorist act has been attributed to the appellants in these letters, or any other material forming part of records of these two appeals…. Thus, we are unable to accept the NIA’s contention that the appellants have committed the offence relating to support given to a terrorist organisation,” the Bench said.