UAPA action against Telangana activist: Criminalising legitimate democratic activity?

By A Representative 

The National Investigation Agency's Hyderabad branch has issued notices to more than ten individuals in Telangana in connection with FIR No. RC-04/2025. Those served include activists, former student leaders, civil rights advocates, poets, writers, retired schoolteachers, and local leaders associated with the Communist Party of India (CPI) and the Indian National Congress. 

The notices relate to their alleged participation in the funeral of Ramachandra Reddy, a Central Committee member of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist), who was killed in Chhattisgarh last year in what critics have described as a staged encounter by security forces.

Among those caught up in the investigation is Innaiah, a social activist affiliated with Bharat Bacchao Manch. He has been arrested under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, commonly known as UAPA. Innaiah has run an orphanage for children in Warangal for approximately fifteen years. Notices have also been issued to individuals associated with the shelter home, including donors who provided funding on humanitarian grounds, raising questions about the breadth of the investigation.

The Campaign Against State Repression (CASR), a coalition of civil liberties groups, has condemned the NIA's actions, calling them an attempt to criminalise legitimate democratic activity. The organisation argues that attending a funeral — even of a person alleged to have been a member of a banned outfit — does not constitute an unlawful or terrorist act. CASR also cited a Supreme Court ruling in Ashray Adhikar Abhiyan v. Union of India, in which the court recognised the right to a dignified burial or cremation as part of the right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution.

Critics of the notices contend that several of those targeted were not merely present at the funeral but had also publicly questioned whether Reddy's killing was an extrajudicial execution. CASR argues that raising accountability concerns about alleged encounter killings falls within the constitutional rights to freedom of speech and expression and peaceful assembly, protected under Articles 19(1)(a), (b), and (c). The organisation has characterised the notices as a strategy of intimidation aimed at silencing civil society workers, particularly those active among Adivasi, Dalit, and marginalised communities.

CASR has called for the immediate withdrawal of all notices issued under FIR No. RC-04/2025, the release of Innaiah and others detained under UAPA in this case, an independent judicial inquiry into the circumstances of Ramachandra Reddy's death, and an end to the use of anti-terror legislation against civil society activists. The NIA has not issued a public statement in response to the criticism.