The trial of cases under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in Jammu and Kashmir will henceforth take place in two designated courts of the state, instead of the sessions’ courts in the districts.
Invoking powers under the National Investigation Agency Act, the governor’s administration Friday designated the court of additional district and sessions judge Srinagar (TADA/POTA) and 3rd additional district and sessions judge Jammu for trying cases under the law, which deals with “militancy-related offences” and “anti-national” activities.
These courts have been constituted under the NIA Act, whose section 22 empowers the state government to constitute one or more special courts for trial of offences under any or all the enactments specified in the schedule.
An official said the trial in 115 cases under the UA(P)Act is going on in sessions courts of Kashmir and 29 in Jammu.
The J&K high court had recently collected details of cases being tried under the law in different courts of the state.
Pertinently, the police seek sanction from the state home department for launching proceedings against the accused under the law. In the past two months, the department sanctioned prosecution in more than 20 cases under the UA (P) Act.