PFI approaches SC challenging UAPA tribunal's decision confirming Centre's 5-year ban
Oct 20, 2023
New Delhi [India], October 20 : The Popular Front of India (PFI) has approached the Supreme Court challenging an Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) tribunal confirming the five-year ban imposed on it by the Centre.
The hearing in the case was scheduled for today before the bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Bela M Trivedi, however, it got adjourned as the petitioner has circulated a letter for adjournment.
PFI in its petition has challenged the March 21 order of the UAPA tribunal by which it had confirmed the September 27, 2022 decision of the Centre to ban the organisation for five years.
The Centre had banned the PFI for five years for its alleged links with global terrorist organisations such as ISIS and trying to spread communal hatred in the country.
The Centre had declared as "unlawful association" the PFI and its associates, affiliates or fronts, including Rehab India Foundation (RIF), Campus Front of India (CFI), All India Imams Council (AIIC), National Confederation of Human Rights Organization (NCHRO), National Women's Front, Junior Front, Empower India Foundation and Rehab Foundation, Kerala.
The Central government is of the firm opinion that it is necessary to declare the PFI and its associates, affiliates or fronts as "unlawful association" with immediate effect under the UAPA, the notification had stated.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) notification said some of the PFI's founding members are the leaders of the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), and the PFI has linkages with Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB). Both JMB and SIMI are proscribed organisations.
It said there were many instances of international linkages of the PFI with global terrorist groups such as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
The notification claimed that the PFI and its associates or affiliates or fronts have been working covertly to increase the radicalisation of one community by promoting a sense of insecurity in the country, which is substantiated by the fact that some PFI cadres have joined international terrorist organisations.
