Topic: ZAKARIYA

Kerala Muslim youth, Zakariya, who was picked up by the Karnataka Police at the age of 19 charging him with draconian UAPA in connection with the 2008 Bengaluru bomb blast, completed 15 years in prison on 5 February 2024.

Kerala Muslim youth, Zakariya, who was picked up by the Karnataka Police at the age of 19 charging him with draconian UAPA in connection with the 2008 Bengaluru bomb blast, completes 14 years in prison on 5 February 2023.

In March, the single mother in her sixties moved to the Supreme Court of India challenging against UAPA and its new amendment. The Public Interest Litigation (PIL) plea is requested to declare the counter-terrorism act ‘unconstitutional and violative of fundamental rights.’

Zakariya is one among the thousands in Parapanna Agrahara Jail, spread over 40 hectares of land and filled with twice the capacity, who is awaiting judiciary to show mercy in fastening their cases.

Biyumma, mother of Zakariya, an under-trial prisoner in the 2008 Bangalore blasts, on Saturday moved the Supreme Court seeking to declare the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), as unconstitutional

However, the UAPA (the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act) provides justification for such a crime over innocent people branded and fabricated as terrorists. "It was not one Zakariya whom they arrested branding as a terrorist. It was a whole family, relatives and friends who were ostracized after the blatant lies which came out in the mainstream newspapers, fed by the police.” Human rights activist KP Sasi said.