India, July 18 -- The Bombay high court on Thursday upheld the constitutional validity of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). Stating that the law sat rightly with the Constitution of India, the court dismissed the petition which sought to declare the enactment unconstitutional.

"The UAPA in its present form is constitutionally valid, therefore, the challenge to its vires fails, and the petition is dismissed," stated the division bench of Justices Ajey Gadkari and Dr Neela Gokhale.

The petitioner, Anil Baburao Baile, had challenged the anti-terror law in the context of the Elgar Parishad case. On January 1, 2018, he went to the site of the Bhima Koregaon memorial commemorating the battle in which soldiers of the Mahar regim...