The Supreme Court declined a plea on Friday, challenging the imposition of the National Security Act (NSA) in few states and the national capital amid anti-CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act) protests. A bench of Justices, Arun Mishra and Indira Banerjee said that it cannot pass a blanket order with regard to the imposition of NSA. The lawyer ML Sharma was asked to withdraw the plea.
Crux of the Matter
NSA enables the police to detain persons without trial for a period of 12 months.
Justice Arun Mishra was quoted as saying: “These are law and order issues. How can we interfere?”
Sharma’s plea said NSA has been imposed to curb and pressure people protesting against the CAA, National Population Register (NPR) and National Register of Indian Citizens (NRIC).
It asked Sharma to file a fresh petition or an interim application in pending pleas on the CAA giving specific details of violations of NSA.
The court said it cannot pass a general direction but it can definitely do something in individual cases of misuse of the NSA by authorities if brought to their attention.
Curiopedia
The National Security Act is an act of the Indian Parliament promulgated on 23 September 1980 whose purpose is “to provide for preventive detention in certain cases and for matters connected therewith”. The act extends to the whole of India. It Contains 18 sections. This act empowers the Central Government and State Governments to detain a person to prevent him/her from acting in any manner prejudicial to the security of India, the relations of India with foreign countries, the maintenance of public order, or the maintenance of supplies and services essential to the community it is necessary so to do. The act also gives power to the governments to detain a foreigner in a view to regulate his presence or expel from the country. The act was passed in 1980 during the Indira Gandhi Government. As per a 1993 report, 72.3 % of 3783 people under the law were later released due to lack of evidence. More Info
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