J&K recorded 3,662 UAPA arrests (35% of India’s 10,440 total, 2019-23), the highest in the country.
Conviction rate in J&K under 1% (only 23 cases), lowest nationally.
Rights groups slam low convictions and prolonged detentions as evidence of UAPA misuse in the region.
Jammu and Kashmir accounted for 35% of all arrests under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) across India from 2019 to 2023, with 3,662 individuals detained out of a national total of 10,440, according to Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) data tabled in the Rajya Sabha. The figures, shared in response to a query by Congress MP Shafi Parambil, reveal a stark disparity in convictions: only 23 in J&K against those 3,662 arrests—a rate below 1%—while Uttar Pradesh topped convictions with 222 out of 2,805 arrests, per MHA Minister of State Nityanand Rai.
Annual breakdowns underscore J&K's dominance: 227 of 1,948 national arrests in 2019; 346 of 1,321 in 2020; 645 of 1,621 in 2021; 1,238 of 2,636 in 2022; and 1,206 of 2,914 in 2023, representing 42% that year alone. UP followed with 1,122 arrests in 2023, while Assam (154), Manipur (130), and Meghalaya (71) also saw spikes; J&K comprised 98% of UT arrests. Nationally, convictions rose from 34 in 2019 to 118 in 2023, but the overall 3.2% rate fuels criticism from rights groups over prolonged detentions without trial.
Amnesty International and PUCL decried UAPA as a "tool to silence dissent," citing high-profile J&K cases like journalist Fahad Shah's 2022 arrest for "terrorist" links via poetry. MHA defended it as essential for "sovereignty and security," noting only two quashings from 2018-2022. As J&K's post-Article 370 security landscape evolves, the data reignites calls for reforms amid 2024's 2,914 arrests.
