Supreme Court Rejects Ex-PFI Head Abubacker's Plea For Bail On Medical Grounds, Declines Request To Allow House Arrest

The Supreme Court today (January 17) rejected the plea of E Abubacker, the former Chairman of the banned outfit Popular Front of India (PFI), for bail on medical grounds. Abubacker, who is presently in judicial custody, was arrested under Sections 120B and 153A of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and Sections 17, 18, 18B, 20, 22B 38 and 39 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967. He was arrested in September 2022 by the agency during a massive crackdown on the banned organisation in 2022 wherein the Central Government banned PFI and associated entities for a period of five years under relevant provisions of UAPA.On November 12, a bench of Justices MM Sundresh and Aravind Kumar directed the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) to constitute a medical team to thoroughly examine Abubacker to ascertain if he deserved bail on medical grounds. Today, appearing for Abubakar, Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayan stated that the medical report is in his favour. He referred to a few judgments where similar allegations related to terrorism arose and the Court had granted bail on medical grounds. Additional Solicitor General S.V. Raju (for National Investigation Agency) argued that all the medical conditions raised by him have been optimised through various treatments and therefore, he cannot be granted bail. A bench of Justices Sundresh and Rajesh Bindal stated that they are not inclined to grant bail on medical grounds at this stage and granted the liberty to the petitioner to approach the Trial Court. However, when Sankaranarayan tried making an alternative prayer that the petitioner may be kept under house arrest, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta objected to it and stated that requesting for house arrest has now become a "new concept".BackgroundIn September 2024, the Court issued notice on his SLP challenging the Delhi High Court's order denying him bail. Abubacker contended that he was suffering from multiple ailments including a rare type of oesophagus cancer, and Parkinson's disease, along with hypertension, diabetes and loss of vision, his appeal before the Court states. While issuing notice, the Supreme Court clarified that it won't entertain plea for bail on merits and will only consider the medical grounds.On May 28, 2024, a division bench comprising Justice Suresh Kumar Kait and Justice Manoj Jain of the High Court dismissed Abubacker's appeal, which sought bail on the merits and medical grounds.The High Court observed the material collected by the investigating agency showed that there is a prima facie commission of offences falling under Chapter IV and Chapter VI of UAPA and such material cannot be disregarded at the preliminary stage. It added that though PFI has been declared to be an unlawful association and not a terrorist organisation the activities of such unlawful association need to be cautiously fathomed and weighed up.Case details: ABUBACKER E. v. NATIONAL INVESTIGATION AGENCY, Diary No. 32949-2024 Click Here To Read/Download Order

Supreme Court Rejects Ex-PFI Head Abubacker's Plea For Bail On Medical Grounds, Declines Request To Allow House Arrest

Gursimran Kaur Bakshi

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