NEW DELHI: Fourteen Popular Front of India (PFI) activists arrested in a massive crackdown on the radical Muslim outfit over its alleged terror links, on Wednesday approached the Delhi High Court seeking their release and compensation, claiming they were unlawfully detained.
Three separate petitions came up before a bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Amit Sharma which granted time to the petitioners’ counsel to file additional documents and relevant judgements to support their case.
The bench listed the matter for further hearing on November 21.During the hearing, Delhi Police raised preliminary objection over maintainability of the petitions and said habeas corpus pleas cannot lie as most of the petitioners have been released on bail.
A habeas corpus petition is filed seeking direction to produce a person who is missing or has been illegally detained. The petitioners claimed they were arrested from their respective homes here on the night of September 27 when police personnel in civilian clothes as well as in uniform barged in and picked them up without informing them or their families anything about the reasons for their arrest.
‘Give info on UAPA cases’
The Delhi High Court has asked the city police to place on record data showing the number of cases under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act where it filed the chargesheet within the stipulated 90 days. It also asked the police to reveal the details of instances where chargesheet was filed after seeking an extension of the 90-day deadline. Section 43D(2) grants 90 days’ time to finish its probe and file the chargesheet.