NEW DELHI: The UAPA tribunal led by Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma of Delhi High Court on Tuesday upheld the Central government’s ban on Popular Front of India (PFI) and its affiliates. After passing the judgement, the tribunal forwarded the judgement to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
The Centre had earlier set up the tribunal of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) headed by Justice Sharma to adjudicate whether sufficient grounds were available for declaring PFI and associate groups as unlawful, as part of the procedure of the act.
Eight of PFI associated fronts -- 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 have also been banned.
The PFI and its associates were banned by the government for five years under the UAPA on September 28, accusing them of having “links” with global terror groups like ISIS. Ban on these organisations followed a number of actions against them and the include seizure of properties, freezing of bank accounts and complete prohibition of normal activities. In order to form the UAPA tribunal, the home ministry requests the law ministry to name a sitting judge of the high court as the presiding officer of the tribunal.
The law minister then requested the chief justice of the Delhi High Court concerned to recommend a judge to head the tribunal.
The PFI was accused of multiple cases of violent protests in different parts of the country against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), alleged forced conversions, the radicalisation of Muslim youths, money laundering and maintaining links with banned groups.
It was also accused of cold-blooded killings of persons associated with organisations espousing other faiths, collection of explosives to target prominent people and places, support to Islamic State, and destruction of public property.