THE MISUSE OF ANTI-TERRORISM LAWS: HOW UAPA AND PMLA VIOLATE HUMAN RIGHTS UNDER FATF’S WATCH

AUTHOR – DISHA SINGHAL, STUDENT AT SYMBIOSIS INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY, PUNE

BEST CITATION – DISHA SINGHAL, THE MISUSE OF ANTI-TERRORISM LAWS: HOW UAPA AND PMLA VIOLATE HUMAN RIGHTS UNDER FATF’S WATCH, INDIAN JOURNAL OF LEGAL REVIEW (IJLR), 5 (1) OF 2025, PG. 64-72, APIS – 3920 – 0001 & ISSN – 2583-2344.

ABSTRACT

This paper titled, ‘The Misuse of Anti-Terrorism Laws: How UAPA and PMLA Violate Human Rights Under FATF’s Watch’ under the theme ‘Rights, Equality and Social Justice’ aims at analyzing anti-terrorism and combating the financing of terrorism and anti-money laundering laws of India with reference to the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 and the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002. These laws formulated to counter terrorism and its financing have been broadened and modified to meet international standards, especially the Financial Action Task Force Recommendations. Nevertheless, this type of expansion has now elicited grievous human rights concerns. The paper examines the broad and ambiguous nature of these laws and their applicability to journalists, activists, and civil society organizations for politically sensitive cases. Using journalist Siddique Kappan’s case where he was charged under both UAPA and PMLA, the study explains how these laws are being utilized to repress opposition and suppress freedom of speech.

The paper shall delve into the analysis of how India’s compliance with FATF norms resulted in the violation of human rights. The paper also claims that due to the sweeping and vague nature of these laws, important fundamentals such as; the right to a fair trial, and the presumption of innocence are also violated. Besides, it highlights the fact that the use of these laws to stifle opposition is counter-productive for counter-terrorism, the violation of human rights in the fight against terrorism is counter-productive.
In the paper’s conclusion, the author points to the need for the review of these laws, stricter regulation of such policies, and involvement of civil society in the evaluation of its policies by FATF, and for protecting human rights defenders. It asserts and insists that for justice to prevail, for India to win, it has to balance on the twin wheels of security and liberty, national security and the protection of rights to freedom.

Keywords: Human Rights, Terrorist Financing, Money Laundering, FATF, PMLA, UAPA, Due Process, Fair Trial