Condemning recent raids conducted by the Uttar Pradesh special task force (STF) at its Delhi state committee office in Shaheen Bagh, New Delhi, the civil rights group, Popular Front of India (PFI), has alleged that it is “part of the ongoing harassment launched against” it by the Yogi Adityanath government.
“There was a raid at our state office a couple of months back by the Enforcement Directorate and the agency could not find any shred of evidence for anything against the law from our office. So, it is clear that the present raid of UP STF was conducted only to harass us”, PFI said in a statement.
“The UP STF did not follow any legal process and did show the search warrant nor gave the seizure report to the office staffs. Flags, published PR documents and handbills were seized and we are sure the STF will present this as ‘incriminating documents’”, it asserted.
PFI said, since past few months the UP government has initiated “a vicious vendetta against PFI by illegally arresting its members on fabricated charges and linking the organization in false terror conspiracies”, insisting, “It all began with the arrest of our state adhoc committee members during the anti-CAA protest alleging them to be the mastermind of the protests.”
Pointing out that PFI responded with legal action for ensuring justice to the innocent people killed and tortured by Uttar Pradesh police during the citizenship agitations, the statement said, “The organization had filed a PIL against UP police in the High Court seeking judicial probe into the police atrocities on minorities”. It alleged, “As a revenge to these interventions, UP Police arrested our state ad hoc committee member and even harassed their family members.”
The statement, signed by its general secretary Anis Ahmed, underlined, “Even after the Hathras rape case the UP police tried to hide its failure by arresting journalist and student activists as instigators of an ‘imaginary caste violence’ and also linking them to Popular Front. The abduction and illegal detention of our members Anshad and Firoz from train on their way to home and the present raids are latest of the vindictive moves.”
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