A Viral UAPA Story With No Names, No Documents, and No Evidence 

On May 29, Facebook user Vinod Chand posted a curious claim: a journalist’s daughter had been framed up in a UAPA case in Kerala. According to the post, former Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan agreed to withdraw the case, but the State Public Prosecutor demanded a ₹5 lakh bribe to do so. The claim quickly spread across Facebook and X, with thousands of users engaging with it as though it described a real incident. 

But who is the source behind this dramatic allegation, and what evidence exists to support it? 

We examined official records, spoke to sources, and traced the claim’s journey online. 

The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) is widely regarded as one of the most draconian laws used  to curb political dissent since its introduction. Allegations are enough to keep someone in prison for years, and often there is a blanket ban on bail.

But is it possible for a state’s Chief Minister and a Public Prosecutor to secretly arrange a settlement behind closed doors in order to withdraw a  UAPA case?

Such a claim was recently shared on Facebook by an individual with more than 80,000 followers. According to the post, the former left government in Kerala  had filed a UAPA case against the daughter of a journalist. According to the post, former Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan agreed to withdraw the case, but the State Public Prosecutor demanded a ₹5 lakh bribe to do so.

What does the ‘mysterious post’ say?

On May 29, a facebook user named Vinod Chand shared a post about the alleged misuse of the UAPA. He claimed that the daughter of a journalist who was ‘vehemently against Modi’ was falsely named in a UAPA case by the Left government in Kerala, despite having ‘never set foot in Kerala’ when the FIR was registered. The post alleged that a meeting was arranged with the Chief Minister and the State Public Prosecutor to withdraw the case. The former Chief Minister agreed to withdraw the case. However, the prosecutor allegedly demanded ₹5 lakh, and the journalist eventually paid ₹2 lakh in cash. According to the post, the daughter later lost a government job because her name appeared in the FIR. Citing this alleged incident, the user argued that governments can use ‘draconian’ laws such as the UAPA to harass citizens ‘across party lines and ideology’.

As of May 30, the post had garnered more than 1,100 likes and 122 shares on Facebook. The comments section suggests that many users engaged with the claim as though it described a real incident. Among them, one user wrote: “You think this to be a single case? There are numerous cases filed by the Kerala Police against protests against the CAA, which the same Pinarayi government said it would withdraw. And this is the reason why we have reiterated that the communist-led Left government had surrendered to the Modi–Amit Shah axis”. Another user commented that Pinarayi Vijayan was a ‘secret ally’ of Prime Minister Modi and claimed that otherwise he ‘would have been in jail long back’. Several others questioned why bureaucrats are rarely held accountable in such cases.

The claim was also amplified beyond the original Facebook post. A user named Krishna Murthy Dosapati shared it in several Facebook groups, including Indian Liberals (55,200 members), We, The People (21,500 members), and Lawyers Forum for Social Justice (1,100 members). Based on their descriptions and discussions, these groups appear to be broadly critical of the BJP. 

The claim also spread on X (formerly Twitter). Notably, a parody account named Government of India Shadow posted the same write-up within an hour of its appearance on Facebook. It garnered around 5,000 views within 24 hours.

What we found

The last known UAPA case registered in Kerala involved the arrest of Allan Shuaib and Thwaha Fasal in November 2019, then aged 19 and 24, in Pantheerankavu, Kozhikode, for allegedly distributing pro-Maoist pamphlets and possessing incriminating documents.That case created a storm in Kerala, as it triggered huge protests from civil society. Even those who aligned with the CPI(M) openly opposed the decision to charge them under the UAPA. 

The case was later transferred to the National Investigation Agency (NIA). Beyond such documented cases, no verified reports were found of a UAPA case in Kerala involving a journalist’s daughter.

OBC looked into official documents, FIRs, and publicly reported UAPA cases registered in Kerala, but found no case matching the details mentioned in the viral post. We also spoke to sources in the police department, the Chief Minister’s Office, and others who would likely be familiar with such developments. Journalists who closely track government and legal affairs in the state likewise said they were unaware of any case resembling the one described in the Facebook post. 

Vinod Chand, who authored the post has  not responded to queries regarding the source and veracity of the claim. 

From both official and unofficial sources, we found no evidence to suggest that such a case was ever registered in Kerala, or that a journalist was forced to pay a bribe to secure the withdrawal of a case. The ambiguity surrounding the claims made in the post, as well as the identity and credibility of its author, remains unresolved. In the absence of any verifiable evidence, the claim appears to be another instance of unsubstantiated information being presented in a manner that sounds highly specific and plausible. Such claims can be readily accepted and shared by ordinary social media users, potentially influencing their perceptions and decisions. 

OBC will update this article if any verifiable information or evidence emerges regarding the case referred to in the post.