UAPA : Kerala Court Denies Bail To Activists Accused Of Maoist Links

The Kozhikode Sessions Court on Wednesday dismissed the bail applications filed by Alan Suhaib and Thaha Fazal who were booked by the Kerala police under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967 (UAPA) for alleged links with banned Maoist organization."...the banners, pamphlet notices calling for revolt and books published by the Central Committee of the banned organization produced from the side of the respondent(Kerala police) prima facie shows that the accused are associating themselves with CPI(Maoist) with intention to further its activities, which is a banned organization by the Government of India (sic)", observed Sessions Judge M R Anitha while dismissing the bail applications by the two men, who are active members of Communists Party of India (Marxist).As per Section 43D(5) of the UAPA, the Court cannot grant bail to an accused under the anti-terror law if the Court is of the opinion on a perusal of the case diary or the report made under section 173 of the Code that there are reasonable grounds for believing that the accusation is prima facie true.To reject the argument of the accused that UAPA will not be attracted in the case, the Court referred to Section 38 of UAPA, which states that a person, who associates himself, or professes to be associated with a terrorist organization with the intention to further its activities commits an offence relating to membership of a terrorist organization. The proviso to the section says that a person will not be guilty under the provision if he is able to prove that the organization was not declared as a terrorist organization at the time when he became a member or began to profess to be a member, and that he has not taken part in the activities of the organization at any time during its inclusion in the Schedule of UAPA as a banned organization. But these two factors are to be proved by the accused, observed the Court.The Assistant Commissioner (South), Kozhikode City, sought the custodial interrogation of the accused, noted the Sessions Judge in the order."In view of the facts and circumstances and the serious nature of the offence alleged to have been committed by the petitioners and prima facie materials in support of the charge, I do not think this is a fit case to grant bail to the petitioners at this early stage", concluded the Court.Alan and Thaha, students of law and journalism respectively, were arrested by Kozhikode police on Friday night. The police said that they had seized suspicious books and pamphlets from their houses, which showed association with Maoist organization.

UAPA : Kerala Court Denies Bail To Activists Accused Of Maoist Links

LIVELAW NEWS NETWORK

Tags