On May 28, the Delhi High Court denied bail to E Abubacker, the leader of the banned group Popular Front of India (PFI). The court stated that PFI wanted to challenge India’s unity and sovereignty. According to the court’s detailed order, PFI had plans to assassinate Hindu leaders, attack security forces, and establish a Caliphate in India by 2047.
Organiser E Exit poll Lok Sabha Elections 2024
“Such statements also go on to show that the objective of such weapon-training was with the idea of overthrowing the democratically elected Government to replace the Constitution of India with a Caliphate Sharia Law,” the high court order read.
A bench of Justices Suresh Kumar Kait and Manoj Jain denied bail to Abubacker in the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) case. They stated that PFI aimed not only to overthrow the government but also to attack India’s unity and sovereignty.
“The planning of targeted killing of Hindu leaders and attacking the security forces and establishing Caliphate by 2047 would clearly indicate that the target was to challenge the, ‘unity and sovereignty of India’ and not merely to ‘overthrow the government’. Thus, the objective and manner of achieving the same, both, seem culpable,” the high court said.
PFI organised terror camps, recruited and radicalised Muslim youths
The High Court noted that PFI organised terror camps, recruited and radicalised Muslim youths, and provided them with weapons training to carry out terrorist acts across the country.
“We have already noted that the goal was to establish Caliphate by the year 2047 and at times, it takes years to achieve any such distant objective. To say that there was no proximity between the alleged preparatory act and the ultimate objective, would not be, therefore, appropriate as such kind of activities are unrelenting, perpetual and unceasing. The organisation had been holding terror camps, recruiting and radicalising Muslim youths and imparting weapon-training for the purposes of commission of terrorist act across the country and, therefore, it cannot be said that there was no proximity between the two or that the weapon-training was merely an act of defence, particularly when the statements of witnesses, clearly, speak to the contrary and indict the appellant.”
Abubacker was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) during a major crackdown on the PFI in 2022.
“The allegations and averments appearing in charge-sheet coupled with the statements made by the witnesses, including the protected witnesses, the tone and tenor of the speeches made by the appellant, the fact that appellant was earlier closely associated with SIMI and when it was banned, he switched to PFI; the manner in which he has been sanctioning amount from PFI bank account and the overall impact of the material so collected by the investigating agency; leave no element of uncertainty in our minds about the fact that the case of the prosecution, with respect to the commission of offences falling under Chapter-IV and Chapter-VI of UAPA, is prima facie true,” the court order denying him bail read.
PFI provoked Muslim youth for Ghazwa-e-Hind against the Government, targeted RSS
According to the court order, statements from several protected witnesses indicated that PFI targeted RSS and encouraged Muslim youth to take up arms against it.
“Protected witness K also stated that during training, various leaders, including appellant herein, had shown them videos and pictures about the good works done by Tanzim (PFI organisation) about RSS office, activities of RSS members and various riot incidents which took place in India with the purpose to emphasise that Muslims were being targeted by RSS and such instructors would repeatedly tell the participants that the fight was against RSS which is the biggest enemy of Islam in the country and that NEC wanted to raise an army of loyal and physical trained cadres to make India an Islamic Nation and recreate Caliphate by the year 2047 through an “armed struggle” against the Government of India colloquially known as Ghazwa-e-Hind,” the order noted.
Crackdown on PFI: Nationwide operations and ban
The NIA stated that the PFI and its members conspired to raise funds for terrorist activities and conducted training camps to indoctrinate and train cadre. They were also accused of encouraging Muslim youths to join ISIS.
In September 2022, the Centre banned PFI, alleging links with global terror groups like ISIS. Raids followed in several states, including Kerala, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Puducherry, Delhi, and Rajasthan. During a crackdown preceding the nationwide ban, the NIA arrested numerous alleged PFI members from various states in 2022.
