india

Updated: Feb 05, 2020 16:07 IST

The authorities in other states, besides Kerala, have registered cases against Popular Front of India (PFI) activists for engaging in alleged anti-national activities, according to state police officers who have submitted this information to the federal home ministry.

On December 4, 2019, the home ministry had sought information from all states about cases registered against PFI activists from November 2016 to November 2019 for anti-national activities. The ministry sought details of cases against PFI members registered under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, and different sections of the Indian Penal Code, especially sections 153A and 153B, which deal with anti-national activities, according to the home ministry’s letter.

The letter was written before the Uttar Pradesh and Assam governments had sought a ban on PFI in the last week of December, claiming that the group was behind violent protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. In Assam, five persons died and in Uttar Pradesh 21 persons died during protests against the CAA, which seeks to fast-track the grant of citizenship to Hindu, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain and Parsi migrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

The Uttar Pradesh police hadarrested 108 activists of PFI across 13 districts of the state in the past four days, UP’s additional chief secretary (home department), Awanish Awasthi, said on Monday. In December 2019, police arrested 25 PFI members, including state president, state treasurer, and division in-charge of Bahraich, Barabanki and Varanasi.

Awasthi said the organization was active in districts such as Meerut, Bijnor, Muzaffarnagar, Gonda, Baraich and Azamgarh and had expanded in the past few years. He also said that PFI was getting funded from the Middle East and its parent body in Kerala.

The Assam Police had arrested two PFI leaders, Animul Haque, PFI state president, and the organisation’s Assam press secretary, Muzamil Haque, for their alleged involvement in the violent anti-CAA protests in the state. They were charged with unlawful assembly, rioting, disobedience, assault and criminal intimidation.

Home minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that the PFI was active in 22 of the state’s 33 districts, with more than 20,000 members. He also alleged that the state had proof of PFI members trying to damage the Assam secretariat on December 12 when anti-CAA protests were at their peak. PFI’s, Assam chapter has denied the government claims.

Replying to the home ministry’s letter, the Rajasthan police said six cases had been registered against members of the organisation between November 2016 and November 2019.

“Three cases against PFI members are registered in Subhash Nagar police station of Bhilwara, two in Bundi Kotwali and one in Bhawanimandi of Jhalawar,” said a police officer, who didn’t want to be named. “In three cases in Bhilwara and one in Bundi, charge sheets have been filed and the cases are under trial.”

The two cases under section 153B of IPC, lodged in Bundi Kotwali and Jhalawar are under investigation, said a senior Rajasthan police officer, who requested anonymity. Rajasthan’s director general of police, Bhupendra Singh, said the police keeps an eye on the activities of all organisations. “This is part of policing,” he said, refusing to talk specifically about the PFI.

The maximum number of cases registered against the PFI from November 2016 to November 2019 was in Kerala. According to the Kerala police, in these three years 104 cases, primarily for stoking communal tension, violent clashes, attempt to murder, provocative sloganeering, possession of arms, illegal assembly, sedition and murder were registered against the PFI.

According to the police, PFI workers were allegedly involved in at least five murder cases in Kerala in the last three years. In January 2018 Shyama Prasad, an Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad activist, was stabbed to death in Kommeri in Kannur and four PFI workers were arrested. In 2018 June, Abhimanyu, a Students’ Federation of India leader, was stabbed to death on the campus of Maharaja’s College in Ernakulam and all the suspects arrested in the case were PFI workers. In 2019 July, a Congress worker, P Noushad, was stabbed to death in Chavakkad near Thrissur and six PFI workers were arrested.

In neighbouring Tamil Nadu, PFI activists have been involved in some cases. In February 2019, they were accused of killing a resident of Thanjavur district for opposing their religious propaganda , the National Investigation Agency (NIA) said in a charge-sheet filed in August 2019. The Tamil Nadu unit of PFI has denied its role in the killing and accused the NIA of targeting it on behalf of the Central government.

Police officials of some other states said that no cases had been registered against PFI activists for anti-national activities. These states were Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Uttarakhand, West Bengal and Bihar.

“PFI had never been active in Bengal and there had been no cases between 2016 and 2019,” said Surajit Kar Purakayastha, a security adviser to the government of West Bengal and former director general of police. The PFI sought permission from the Murshidabad district administration to hold its first anti-CAA rally on January 5 but was denied permission.

Additional director general of police (law and order) Telangana, Jitender (who uses only his first name), said, no major cases had been filed against PFI activists in the state till now. “In fact, there is not much of activity by PFI in Telangana, except in some places like Jagitial and Nizamabad, where it is completely low key. There could be one or two sporadic cases, but not very serious in nature,” he said.

PFI, a federation that was formed in 2006 as a successor to the National Democratic Front (NDF), has come under the scanner of the Union home ministry for allegedly instigating protests against the CAA and the National Register of Citizens in Uttar Pradesh.

The PFI denies allegations of its members being involved in anti-national activities. “Now some TV channels and political parties are in a race to blame the PFI. They need a scapegoat and want to divert attention,” state general secretary of the organisation, C P Muhammad Basheer, said on January 29.

(With inputs from state bureaus)