CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has granted bail to two persons who have been incarcerated for about two years since their arrest under certain sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.
The matter pertains to an FIR registered by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) under sections 34, 120(B), 153A and 153B of the IPC and sections 13 and 18 of the UAPA against seven persons, including the petitioners — Mohammad Mourice and Kadher Navas Sherif of Chennai — for holding secret meetings in mosques and conspiring/involving in terrorist acts. The two were arrested on May 25, 2024, and have remained in custody since then.
The petitioners had approached the special court for bomb blast cases but were denied bail in an order dated February 19, 2025. Subsequently, they approached the high court.Advocate I Abdul Basith, appearing for the petitioners, submitted that the NIA has not furnished the grounds of arrest as mandated in the UAPA and pointed out that one of the accused has been granted bail by the Supreme Court.
A division bench of justices Anita Sumanth and Sunder Mohan, in the recent order, cited certain SC judgments and said “the settled proposition that emanates is that the grounds of arrest must be supplied to an accused at the time when he is apprehended or within a reasonable time thereafter”.
In the present case, the appellants have been secured on May 25, 2024 and the grounds of the arrest have not been supplied at all as admitted, the bench said.