Murder of RSS leader: Kerala High Court grants bail to 17 PFI workers, denies bail to 9

The Kerala High Court on Tuesday granted bail to 17 members of the banned Popular Front of India (PFI) and denied bail to 9 others who are accused in the murder of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leader, Srinivasan in 2022 [Ashraf @ Ashraf Moulavi & Ors. v. Union of India]..While doing so, a division bench of Justices AK Jayasankaran Nambiar and Syam Kumar VM emphasised that courts should ensure that they are not swayed by ideological biases or false narratives. "We feel that in cases such as the present, where the allegation against the accused is that they were complicit in terrorism related offences, a court examining the evidence against the accused under Section 43D of the UA (P) Act [Unlawful Activities (Prevention Ac] has also to guard itself against any confirmation bias that might creep in based on ideological biases and false narratives prevalent in society," the order said. It also underscored that the role of Constitutional courts is to lean in favour of fundamental rights and not in favour of restrictions on such rights. "Such an exercise would be required, not only in keeping with the requirement of safeguarding the personal liberty of the accused under Article 21, but also in the interests of upholding the fundamental right of an accused against arbitrariness and/or discrimination as envisaged under Article 14 of the Constitution. The role of any court, not just the constitutional courts, must be to lean in favour of the fundamental rights of the accused, and not in favour of the restrictions that can be imposed on those rights," the Court explained in its judgment. .While examining the materials relied upon to support the allegation of terrorism related offences against the accused, the court has to guard against ideological biases and false narratives that are prevalent in society.Kerala High Court.The judgment was passed in a batch of appeals moved by 26 individuals, all purported PFI members, who are accused in the murder of Srinivasan in Palakkad district in 2022. At first, first information report (FIR) alleging commission of various offences under the Indian Penal Code [IPC] and the Religious Institutions (Prevention of Misuse) Act was registered against them and several others. Subsequently, based on information received by the Central Government that the office bearers and cadres of PFI and its affiliates in Kerala have conspired to instigate communal violence and radicalise its cadres to commit terrorist acts, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) took up the case and a new FIR was registered which included offences punishable under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act [UAPA].The 26 accused were denied bail by a Special Court following which they moved the present appeals before the High Court..While considering the appeals, High Court primarily focused on the prosecution material that apply commonly to all the accused one among which was a printed document titled “India 2047 – Towards Rule of Islam in India” which was stated to be an “internal document”. The Court observed that it spoke of the present state of the Muslim community in India, and projected a vision for the year 2047 that sees the establishment of an Islamic government in India. The Court added that the means by which the documents author stated that this objective can be achieved was mostly covert and violent.However, the Court noted that there is no authorship attributed to anyone in the document; yet the prosecution proceeded on the assumption that all the appellants subscribed to its views. Another common piece of evidence was a voice clip recovered from a mobile phone but the Court noted that there was scientific evidence linking the voice with that of any of the other accused.After analysing all the other prosecution material as well, the Court concluded that the threshold envisaged under Section 43D (5) of the UAPA for denial of bail, would apply to only 9 of the appellants.Therefore, it dismissed the appeals of those 9 appellants including Abdul Sathar who was the Kerala general secretary of PFI. .The Court, however, was unable to arrive at a prima facie finding that the allegations against the other 17 appellants were true and proceeded to allow their appeals and grant them conditional bail. .The appellants were represented by Senior Advocates Dr. Aditya Sondhi and S Sreekumar and advocates EA Haris, PP Haris, S Rajeev, and Renjith B Marar. Senior Advocate Sasthamangalam S Ajithkumar appeared for the prosecution..[Read Judgment]