NSA: Power or Peril?

Dive into the controversy surrounding India's National Security Act (NSA), spotlighted by the detention of Ladakhi activist Sonam Wangchuk.

Transcript

00:00The detention of Ladakhi activist Sonam Vangchuk has once again put the spotlight on one of India's

00:10most controversial laws. The National Security Act 1980 or NSA. A law that allows the government

00:18to detain someone not for what they have actually done, for what they might do or what effect they

00:24may have. The NSA was introduced in 1980 as the successor to the draconian MISA and it gives

00:35sweeping power to the executive. Unlike a normal arrest where you are charged for a crime, preventive

00:41detention under NSA is all about suspicion or possibility. The government can detain you to

00:47prevent a possible threat to national security or public order even if you haven't actually done

00:53anything yet.

00:54And here's how it plays out. The detention order is not passed by the police but by a district

00:59magistrate or a divisional commissioner. That order has to be approved by the state government

01:04within 12 days of your arrest and then this order has to be sent to the centre with the

01:09reasons for arrest within 7 more days. The detainee can even be shifted to another state

01:15with the centre's nod. That's what happened in the Vangchuk case.

01:18Remember, under the normal criminal law, which was earlier the IPC and now the Bharatiya Niai

01:22Sahita, an accused enjoys several rights. The right to be told grounds of arrest, to meet

01:28a lawyer, to be produced before a magistrate within 24 hours and to seek bail. Under NSA,

01:34none of these apply. In fact, the government can keep you in the dark about the reason for

01:39your detention up to 10 days in exceptional circumstances. Normally under the act, grounds

01:46must be shared within 5 days. But even then, the government can withhold part information

01:52citing public interest. The detainee under NSA is not produced before a regular court but before an

01:58advisory board of the state which is headed by a high court judge. Unlike criminal arrests where

02:04police must file a charge sheet within 30 to 90 days, under the NSA, you can be held without any

02:11charges for up to 12 months. Initially, of course, the order has to be for maximum 3 months but the

02:17order is extendable by the government. And that is why after the abrogation of Article 370, even

02:23political leaders like Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti were kept in preventive detention for months.

02:29Abdullah was released only after his case reached the Supreme Court. There are some checks. Detention

02:36orders can be challenged before the High Court or the Supreme Court via habeas corpus petitions. The

02:41advisory board is also expected to look into the justifications and the reasons and can recommend

02:48revoking of detention if the grounds are not justified. But courts have repeatedly flagged misuse of

02:54this law. During COVID, the Alabad High Court recently quashed 94 out of 120 NSA cases filed for lockdown

03:02violations during COVID. It called it an absolute misuse of the law. In Manipur, a journalist and

03:09activists were detained over a Facebook post on fake COVID cures. They were also freed after court

03:15intervention. At the same time, the Supreme Court upheld the use of NSA against black marketeers who were

03:21hoarding oxygen and medicines during the pandemic, seeing such acts endangered lives. The scope of

03:28NSA is massive. Even if someone is granted bail, acquitted by a court or already in police custody,

03:35the district magistrate can still slap NSA on them. And once retained under NSA, the person has no right to

03:43seek bail in a criminal court. And in notified disturbed areas in terrorism cases, Section 14A of

03:50the NSA Act allows detention without the review by the advisory board for up to six months. And that is why

03:58the NSA is one of India's most criticized laws. It walks the razor's edge between protecting national

04:05security and curbing civil liberties. In theory, it's about prevention. In practice, without strong

04:12oversight, it opens the door to misuse. And the debate on whether it protects India or undermines

04:19democracy continues every time someone like Sonam Vangchuk is detained.