Until 2019, India’s main anti-terrorism law could only formally brand an organisation as terrorist, not a person. A single amendment changed that. The government can now name an individual directly, and it has used that power dozens of times since.
MCQ QuestionsUAPA, 1967
2019
Amendment that let the Centre designate individuals as terrorists
Before this, only organisations could be so designated.
Key Provision
Section 35
Empowers designation via gazette notification, Schedule IV.
First Batch
Sept 2019, 4 Named
Azhar, Saeed, Lakhvi, Dawood Ibrahim.
Investigating Agency
NIA, Est. 2008
Set up post-26/11, under the NIA Act, 2008.
Latest Batch
4 July 2026, 23 Named
Under the Zero Tolerance Policy against terrorism.
Contents
Must Know
- The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (UAPA) is India’s primary law against activities that threaten the country’s sovereignty and integrity. It was later expanded to cover terrorism directly.
- A 2004 amendment added dedicated chapters on terrorist acts and terrorist organisations, after the repeal of the earlier Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA).
- A 2008 amendment strengthened enforcement, in the aftermath of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks. The same year, Parliament passed the National Investigation Agency (NIA) Act, 2008, creating India’s central counter-terrorism investigating agency.
- The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Act, 2019, changed Section 35. It gave the Central Government power to designate an individual, not just an organisation, as a “terrorist,” by notification in the official gazette. Their name is then added to Schedule IV.
- The first individuals designated under this new power, in September 2019, were Masood Azhar, Hafiz Saeed, Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, and Dawood Ibrahim.
Good to Know
- The NIA investigates and prosecutes offences listed in its own Schedule, including terrorism, hijacking, and attacks on nuclear facilities, alongside many UAPA cases.
- The NIA (Amendment) Act, 2019, passed the same year as the UAPA amendment, expanded the agency’s jurisdiction. It can now investigate scheduled offences committed outside India, if they involve Indian citizens or interests. It also covers offences under laws like the Explosive Substances Act and the Arms Act.
- A person designated as a terrorist under Section 35 can seek removal from the list. They can apply to the Central Government. A further review is then available before a Review Committee, headed by a serving or retired High Court judge.
- Since the September 2019 batch, the Government has periodically added more names, and occasionally removed some, under this same Section 35 process.
Test Yourself
Great to Know
- The individual-designation power remains legally contested. Critics argue it gives the executive broad discretion. The Review Committee that hears an appeal is itself constituted by the same Central Government, not by a fully independent judicial body.
- Supporters counter that individual designation closes a real gap. An organisation could once be banned, while its named leaders kept operating and travelling freely under their own identity.
- UAPA and NIA cases sit within India’s wider security-institution landscape. See Polity0015 — India’s Security and Intelligence Agencies for the NIA’s fuller institutional profile.
- The Government does not treat individual designation as a one-time step. New batches are added periodically, as part of an ongoing, continuing policy rather than a single announcement.
Current Affairs
- On 4 July 2026, the Ministry of Home Affairs designated 23 more individuals as “terrorists” under UAPA, as part of the Government’s Zero Tolerance Policy against terrorism.
Leave a Reply