UAPA Case Over Alleged Maoist Links : Supreme Court Issues Notice On NIA's Challenge To Bail Granted To Kerala Youth Allan Shuhaib

The Supreme Court on Thursday issued notice in the special leave petition filed by the National Investigation Agency challenging the Kerala High Court judgment which did not interfere with the trial court's order granting bail to law student Allan Shuhaib in a UAPA case registered over alleged Maoist links.A bench comprising Justices UU Lalit and Ajay Rastogi tagged the petition along with the petition filed by Allan Shuhaib's co-accused Thwaha Fasal, a journalism student, challenging the very same judgment of the Kerala High Court which set aside the bail granted to him by the Special NIA Court.The bench posted both the petitions for final hearing in the third week of September. Senior Advocate R Basant appeared for Thwaha Fasal and Additional Solicitor General SV Raju appeared for the NIA.The NIA filed the SLP against the bail granted to Shuhaib after Fasal approached the Supreme Court seeking bail. The Supreme Court had earlier observed that it will hear both the petitions together as they arise from the same judgment.The petitions are filed against the judgment passed by the Kerala High Court on January 4 this year which overturned the findings of the Special NIA Court that no prima facie case is made out against the accused from the chargesheet. While the High Court set aside the bail granted to Fasal and asked him to surrender, it did not upset the bail granted to Allan Shuhaib considering his young age and also his psychiatric issues related to depression.The Special Court, in its order delivered in September last year, had observed that no prima facie case was made out against the accused so as to attract Section 43D(5) of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. The Special Court observed that the case materials, at the most, suggested that the accused had Maoist leanings but said that they had not indulged in any overt violence or incitement to violence.The High Court observed that the trial court went into a "thread-bare analysis" of the documents on record as if in a trial' and observed that the documents seized from the accused were "highly inflammable and volatile".In April, the Supreme Court had issued notice in Fasal's petition orally observing that the "trial court has also passed an equally well reasoned order". The case was first registered by the Kerala Police in November 2019, which arrested Allan Shuhaib and Fasal alleging that they had links with Maoist organizations. Later, the NIA took over the case.

UAPA Case Over Alleged Maoist Links : Supreme Court Issues Notice On NIA's Challenge To Bail Granted To Kerala Youth Allan Shuhaib

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