Case overload? 71% of NIA investigations rely on anti-terror law UAPA
As the agency faces a mounting judicial bottleneck, its heavy reliance on the controversial law is fuelling concerns
When P Chidambaram was India’s Home Minister, he met with Robert Mueller, director of America’s Federal Bureau of Investigation, in March 2009 in New Delhi. It was three months after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, and Chidambaram described the newly formed National Investigation Agency (NIA) as crucial to the country’s security. He also expressed concern that he had come “perilously close to crossing constitutional limits” in empowering the agency, according to a 2011 WikiLeaks disclosure about the meeting on counter-terrorism.
Chidambaram feared that the NIA Act would be struck down by the courts, as it gives the central government investigative powers over “police” and “public order”, areas that the Constitution reserves for the states.
When contacted, Chidambaram confirmed the developments. “As a lawyer, I had some apprehensions, but as the Home Minister I thought it was my duty to pass the law at that critical moment,” he told Business Standard in an email.
Despite reservations, the political regime of the time did not face much constitutional challenges. The country was recovering from the trauma of the 26/11 attacks, creating an environment where the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government could pass the NIA Act and significantly strengthen the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, or UAPA, with overwhelming parliamentary support a month after the attacks.
The NIA’s role has expanded dramatically since then. Between 2009 and 2025, it conducted 679 investigations — 71 per cent of which were filed under the UAPA. The remaining investigations were filed under the Arms Act, the Explosive Substances Act and sedition.
In 2009, it had just eight cases (all UAPA) to investigate and the number increased to 80 in 2024, of which 51 were UAPA cases. The agency kept busy in 2025, but the number of new cases recorded in the early part of the year moderated, with 34 cases, 22 of which were UAPA cases (chart 1, click image for interactive link).
Legal amendments over the years have broadened the state’s reach in national security affairs. In 2012, the UAPA’s scope was expanded to include financial crimes. In 2019, further amendments to the NIA and UAPA Acts empowered the NIA to designate individuals, and not just organisations, as terrorists and investigate cases outside India.
These amendments prompted Chhattisgarh to move the Supreme Court in January 2020 and become the first state to challenge the constitutionality of the NIA Act, arguing that it infringes on police powers and grants unbridled authority to the Centre.
The UAPA is divided into seven chapters that have 53 sections. An analysis shows that the NIA’s application of laws heavily leans on a few specific, broadly defined charges. Of the 480 UAPA cases the NIA investigated from 2009 to 2025, 64 per cent invoked Section 18, which is punishment for conspiracy. As many as 48 per cent cases involved Section 20, which is punishment for the membership of a terrorist gang, and 45 per cent sought punishment for a terrorist act (Chart 2).
The frequent invocation of conspiracy charges worries civil society groups. A report published by the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) in 2022 argued that the UAPA’s definition of conspiracy is “sweeping and loosely worded” and permits arbitrary use.
Increasing workload has created a judicial bottleneck for the NIA. Between 2009 and 2023, data shows 71 per cent of NIA cases remained under investigation, while judgments were pronounced in 4.6 per cent. NIA’s teams in New Delhi, Guwahati and Hyderabad account for 78 per cent of all cases, a majority of which the agency takes over from state police (Chart 3).
In the headline-making Bhima Koregaon case, the NIA charged 16 people in January 2020 with participating in anti-national activities as defined by various UAPA sections. According to the latest data on the NIA’s official website, the case remains “under investigation”.
Of all UAPA cases NIA handled, it initiated only 41 (12 per cent) on its own. As many as 316 cases (88 per cent) were transferred to the NIA from states, according to the PUCL report. “It is a moot question as to whether the state governments were consulted or they agreed to these transfers,” the report added.
In his 2021 book, “The Silent Coup: A History of India’s Deep State”, investigative journalist Josy Joseph wrote that most security agencies in India lack strong accountability mechanisms. This allows the political executive to control these agencies, often at the expense of independent oversight. “The NIA is, of course, far from the only agency that the political executive has wielded to scuttle Indian democracy,” said Joseph.