MHA set to give nod to prosecute PFI leaders

Synopsis The agency will be charging the arrested PFI leaders for allegedly running a secret campaign for motivating and recruiting youth to join the Islamic State and raising funds from Gulf countries, officials in the know said. The Union home ministry is set to grant prosecution sanction against top leaders of the now-banned Popular Front of India ( PFI ) under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, following which the National Investigation Agency (NIA) is expected to file a charge sheet before the end of this month. The agency will be charging the arrested PFI leaders for allegedly running a secret campaign for motivating and recruiting youth to join the Islamic State and raising funds from Gulf countries, officials in the know said.

The Centre’s approval is compulsory under Section 45 of UAPA, and the prosecuting agency is required to file its charge sheet within 180 days from the arrest of the suspects, they said. NIA’s proposal for sanction is being examined by a two-member authority. Under UAPA, the central government needs to consider the report of the authority before giving its clearance, said the officials.

Over 100 PFI leaders were arrested in September last year during a nationwide crackdown. They all are still in jail. NIA officials told ET that they are investigating seven PFI-related cases.

“PFI and its associates will be charged for working covertly to increase the radicalisation of one community by promoting a sense of insecurity in the country,” a senior official said. According to NIA, cadres of PFI’s political arm, Social Democratic Party of India, were allegedly involved in the 2020 Bengaluru riots. On October 6 last year, the Union law ministry notified a tribunal by appointing justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma of the Delhi High Court to review the five-year ban imposed on PFI and fronts including the Rehab India Foundation , Campus Front of India, All India Imams Council, National Confederation of Human Rights Organisation, National Women’s Front and Junior Front Empower India Foundation.

As many as 1,400 cases have been filed against PFI cadres under UAPA, Explosive Substances Act, Arms Act and the Indian Penal Code. Interrogation of top PFI leaders revealed that the outfit had formed district executive committees in Gulf countries with the India Fraternity Forum (IFF) and Indian Social Forum being its overseas fronts, according to officials. “The groups were tasked to engage with the expatriate Muslims for raising funds.

Funds were generally collected in cash and remitted to India either through hawala channels or camouflaged as remittances by sending it to the accounts of India-based relatives and friends of PFI members and sympathisers working abroad. IFF had emerged as the most important arm for raising funds in the Gulf,” said an official. PFI recruits were radicalised by display of video clippings of the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition and 2002 Gujarat riots, the officials said.

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