New Delhi: Popular Front of India Chairman O M A Salam has expressed deep concern over the rampant misuse of draconian laws in Uttar Pradesh A recent study showed that UP police used the dreadful National Security Act against innocent Muslims in an alarming number of cases, mostly related to cow slaughter. In just two years, between January 2018 and December 2020, the Allahabad High Court ruled in 120 habeas corpus petitions challenging preventive detention under the NSA. In 94 detentions, the court quashed orders of DMs in as many as 32 districts and ordered the release of the detainees. NSA was misused to avoid people getting bail. The DMs hardly bother to weigh the merit of the police accusations and most of the time accept the police version verbatim. Muslims are targeted in this manner, Muslim students, activists, and journalists are targeted in a more cruel manner. They are charged with UAPA and treated as terrorists merely for questioning the government policies. The 5000-page charge sheet filed against journalist Siddiq Kappan and Campus Front leaders is part of this. They were arrested merely for trying to visit Hathras Rape victim’s family. The case is a clear example of how U.P government conspire to eliminate even the last voice of opposition against it. Popular Front expresses its deep concern over the rampant misuse of draconian security laws against innocent people. The organization urges the judiciary in the state to take cognizance of the decline of the criminal justice system and take steps to ensure civil rights and due process to each citizen arrested in the state.