India arrested nearly 3,000 under anti-terror law in 2023
Government data shows 2,914 arrests under sweeping anti-terror law in 2023 but only 118 convictions, raising concern over prolonged detention without trial
NEW DELHI, India (MNTV) — India recorded nearly 3,000 arrests in 2023 under its sweeping anti-terror legislation but secured only 118 convictions, according to official data presented in Parliament on Tuesday, deepening concerns that the law is being used more to detain than to prosecute.
Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai told the lower house, the Lok Sabha, that 2,914 people were arrested nationwide last year under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, a national security law that permits extended imprisonment without trial and sets an exceptionally high bar for bail.
Government crime data shows that between 2019 and 2023, a total of 10,440 people were arrested, while only 335 were convicted — a conviction rate of roughly 3.2 percent.
Human-rights advocates say the figures expose a widening gap between arrests and proven guilt and illustrate how the law can be used to hold suspects for years pending slow trials, effectively turning detention into punishment.
They note that those prosecuted under the law are overwhelmingly Muslims, Dalits, Sikhs, student activists and human-rights defenders, who face years of imprisonment before trials even begin.
Legal observers argue that a conviction rate this low would normally indicate weak evidence or overbroad use of anti-terror charges.
The data also reveals sharp regional disparities. Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state and governed by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), recorded the highest arrests in 2023 — 1,122 cases — followed by Jammu and Kashmir, a heavily militarized region under direct federal control, with 1,206 arrests. Some smaller states, including Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Sikkim, reported zero arrests over the five-year period.
Convictions remained equally uneven: Delhi recorded 24 convictions in 2023, more than any other Union Territory, while Uttar Pradesh secured 75 convictions, the highest among states.
Arrests under the law have risen sharply: 1,621 in 2021, 2,636 in 2022, and nearly 3,000 in 2023, a trajectory analysts say reflects increasing reliance on the legislation to control dissent, activism and protests as India enters another election cycle.
Many opposition leaders and rights organizations say the law is increasingly being used to target dissenting voices — including journalists, student activists, community organizers, and academics — arguing that national security has become a pretext to criminalize opposition rather than prosecute genuine threats.
The government, however, continues to defend the legislation as necessary for counter-terrorism, despite mounting criticism over its expanding use.
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