Supreme Court stays Madras High Court order granting bail to Madurai lawyer M Mohammed Abbas accused of PFI links

The Supreme Court on Friday stayed a Madras High Court order granting bail to Madurai lawyer M Mohammed Abbas in a case registered against him under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) for alleged links to the banned Popular Front of India (PFI) [Union of India v. M Mohamed Abbas]..A Bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Sanjay Karol issued notice in the appeal filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) against the High Court order, and asked the central agency to produce copies of the digital evidence it had relied on in its case before the High Court.The case is slated to be heard next on September 12..Additional Solicitor General SV Raju appeared for the NIA. Senior Advocate R Basant with Advocate Devyani Gupta appeared for Abbas on caveat..On Wednesday, a top court Bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Bela Trivedi had clarified that they cannot provide a stay on Abbas' arrest during the mentioning stage, more so without even reviewing the case files.In the order under challenge, the Madras High Court had rejected the NIA's oral request seeking leave under Article 134 of the Constitution to challenge the bail order before the Supreme Court.The High Court had, however, dismissed the quashing petition filed by Abbas, where he had claimed that his arrest was a clear case of malafide as the NIA had found an easy victim in him.The plea by the advocate before the High Court had said that the central agency was particularly offended by a Facebook post and a complaint against one if its Superintendents of Police made by Abbas..The High Court in its order had said that the special court should decide on the issue of malafide at the time of trial. It had closed the habeas corpus petition filed by Abbas' family members following his arrest.Further, the advocate was directed to execute a bond and furnish two sureties for a sum of ₹1 lakh. He has to stay in Chennai, cooperate with the probe agency and to keep his mobile phone "active and charged" at all times to ensure he is always reachable. .Abbas and four others were arrested by the NIA on May 9 in connection with the Tamil Nadu PFI criminal conspiracy case. They were booked under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) on charges of being members of the PFI.According to a press release by NIA, investigation revealed that the accused had conspired and planned to eliminate their 'perceived enemies' who were not aligned to the PFI ideology and were opposed to its plans to establish an Islamic State in India by 2047.The release further stated that in pursuance of the conspiracy, the accused had radicalized a large number of PFI cadres, especially youth handpicked by the outfit’s leadership, and had also trained them in the use of different kinds of weapons to assault, maim and kill their adversaries.Yesterday, Abbas was arrested again, based on two other criminal complaints..[Read order]