New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday sought Centre's response on plea challenging amendments in Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
The petitions challenges the changes to the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act on various grounds, including that these infringed upon fundamental rights of citizens and empowered agencies to declare persons a terrorist.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Ashok Bhushan issued notices to the central government on petitions filed by Sajal Awasthi and an NGO, Association for Protection of Civil Rights (APCR).
This comes two days after the government named Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar, Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, Mumbai terror attack accused Zaki-ur-Rehman-Lakhvi and fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim terrorists under the anti-terror law.
The decisions were taken nearly a month after Parliament approved a crucial amendment to The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Act, 1967. They are the first to be declared terrorists under the new anti-law, a home ministry official said.
On Thursday, the United States had said that it stands with India for using new anti-terror law to designate four as terrorists. "We stand w/ #India & commend it for utilizing new legal authorities to designate 4 notorious terrorists: Maulana Masood Azhar, Hafiz Saeed, Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi & Dawood Ibrahim. This new law expands possibilities for joint #USIndia efforts to combat scourge of terrorism," US government's Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs tweeted.
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