Idea of PFI was to overthrow government and replace Constitution with Sharia: Delhi High Court

The target of Popular Front of India (PFI) was to challenge the unity and sovereignty of India, the Delhi High Court observed in its judgment denying bail to E Abubacker in the case registered against him under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA)..A Division Bench of Justices Suresh Kumar Kait and Manoj Jain said that the plan to kill Hindu leaders, attacking the security forces and establishing Caliphate by 2047 clearly indicated the target."The planning of targeted killing of Hindu leaders and attacking the security forces and establishing Caliphate by 2047 would clearly indicate that the target was to challenge the, 'unity and sovereignty of India' and not merely to 'overthrow the government'. Thus, the objective and manner of achieving the same, both, seem culpable," the Court said..The Court noted that PFI had been had been holding terror camps, recruiting and radicalising Muslim youths and imparting weapon-training for the purposes of commission of terrorist acts across the country.Therefore, it concluded that it could not be said that there was no proximity between the target of establishing a caliphate and the training, particularly when the statements of witnesses indicted Abubacker."Such statements also go on to show that objective of such weapon-training was with the idea of overthrowing the democratically elected government to replace the Constitution of India with a Caliphate Shariya Law," the Court said..Abucbacker was denied regular bail earlier today by the High Court. He was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) during a massive crackdown on the PFI in 2022.As per the agency, the PFI, its members and office bearers hatched a criminal conspiracy to raise funds for committing acts of terror across the country and were conducting training camps to indoctrinate and train their cadre for this purpose..In 2022, numerous alleged activists of PFI were detained or arrested across several states during a crackdown preceding the nationwide ban on the organisation and its affiliates.This ban was imposed by the Central government on September 28, 2022, under the UAPA due to accusations of connections with global terror groups such as ISIS.As part of a coordinated multi-agency operation led by the NIA, PFI activists were apprehended in 11 states and union territories for their alleged support of terror activities. Abubacker was arrested on September 22, 2022.The raids took place in Kerala, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Puducherry, Delhi and Rajasthan..Senior Advocate Nitya Ramakrishnan and Advocates Adit Pujari, A Nowfal, Shaikh Saipan, Aprajita Sinha, Shaurya Mittal, Mantika Vohra, Shereef KA and Arif Hussain appeared for Abubacker.Special Public Prosecutor Rahul Tyag and Advocates Vikas Walia, Sangeet Sibou, Priya Rai, Jatin, Mathew M Philip, Durga Das and Harsh Sehrawat, appeared for NIA..[Read Judgment]