SC asks PFI to challenge UAPA ban in HC, refuses to entertain plea

The court asked PFI to approach the Delhi High Court challenging the order by filing a writ petition

The Supreme Court on November 6 refused to entertain a plea by the now-banned Popular Front of India (PFI) against the order of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) tribunal upholding the Union government's ban.

The court asked PFI to approach the Delhi High Court challenging the order by filing a writ petition. PFI had challenged the UAPA tribunal's order confirming the centre's ban on the organisation.

In March 2023, the UAPA tribunal confirmed centre's decision to declare the PFI as an unlawful association and imposed a five-year ban on it.

On September 27 2022, last year, the Centre banned the PFI for five years for allegedly having "links" with global terrorist organisations such as ISIS and trying to spread communal hatred in the country.

The Centre had declared as "unlawful association", the PFI and its associates or affiliates or fronts, including 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.

A notification issued on September 27, 2022, said the Union government having regard to the above circumstances is of the firm opinion that it is necessary to declare the PFI and its associates or affiliates or fronts as "unlawful association" with immediate effect and accordingly in exercise of the powers conferred by the proviso to sub-section (3) of section 3 of the UAPA.

It said the central government, hereby, directs that this notification shall, subject to any order that may be made under section 4 of the UAPA, have effect for five years from the date of its publication in the official gazette. More than 150 people allegedly linked with the PFI were detained or arrested in raids across seven states in September last year.

In the recent past, the PFI’s name has cropped up after almost every communal flare-up or busting of terror modules. The Directorate of Enforcement, which has been probing the group under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) since 2018, suspects a financial link between the PFI and violent protests in Uttar Pradesh against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

The PFI is often accused of radicalising Muslim youngsters and maintaining a relationship with anti-national groups. Calls for a ban on the group have been voiced by critics.