Skip to main content

Move to 'intimidate, terrorize' entire Muslim community: PUCL on PFI ban, leaders' arrest

Counterview Desk 
India’s premier human rights group, People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), condemning the mass raids and arrests of the People’s Front of India (PFI) leadership and cadres, following the recent ban on PFI, has said that the whole idea behind night busloads of armed CRPF men “suddenly” setting up blockades in Muslim dominated residential localities of Jamia Nagar in Delhi, equipped with “weaponry and securith gear”, was “to intimidate and terrorize the entire Muslim community.”
Citing the types of FIRs being filed against PFI, PUCL said, the effort was to accuse youth of “running an anti-India WhatsApp group”, with police claiming to find documents “claiming that India would become an Islamic nation by 2047.”
However, the PUCL statement signed by V Suresh, general secretary, noted, “The fact finding conducted by the Bihar state PUCL branch found that prima facie no arms training, terror activities or radicalising youth.

Text:

The PUCL is deeply concerned about the implications for democracy and the constitutional rights of freedom of speech and association in the light of the ongoing `Operation Octopus’ which is being carried out against the Popular Front of India (PFI) and its affiliates, across the country as a joint operation of the CRPF, the home ministry, ATS, NIA, ED, RAW, State police, and other agencies. It has consisted of mass raids being carried out in two rounds, in more than 16 states of India over hundreds of locations and with over 300 arrests. The raids, which have been conducted as a media spectacle showcasing massive state power, bodes ill for a constitutional democracy based on rule of law, pushing the Muslim community further into fear, intimidation, alienation, and silence.

Undermining federalism

At the outset it should be noted that there are serious implications related to federalism in the way raids have been carried out and arrests made by the Central Agencies. The local police of non BJP states such as Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan were kept out of the operation. In fact, the TN police were in the dark about the raid and the arrests until the very end. Despite law and order being a state subject, the Centre arbitrarily used the NIA trampling the powers of the state government and undermining the Constitution.
These raids were followed by a notification of the Ministry of Home Affairs dated 27th September under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, 1967, which declares PFI ‘the PFI and its affiliates the Rehab India Foundation (RIF), Campus Front of India (CFI), All India Imams Council (AIIC), National Confederation of Human Rights Organization (NCHRO), National Women’s Front, Junior Front, Empower India Foundation and Rehab Foundation, Kerala as an “unlawful association” and hence banned.

Setting the stage for a ban on PFI : Might of the Indian state on display

In a massive show of force, the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India initiated and coordinated between 22nd and 27th September, raids in more than a hundred locations in 16 states and arrested 106 people on day one; The second round of Operation Octopus was carried out by the State police in 8 states, mostly ruled by the BJP. Officially it has been stated that more than 170 workers were arrested, with almost 30 in Delhi. However, according to the PFI, over three to four hundred of its cadre have been picked up with almost the entire top leadership at the central and state level of the PFI and the Social and Democratic Party of India (SDPI) being taken into custody. Many of the arrestees include professors, practicing lawyers, and community level organizers.
According to the press note put out by National Investigation Agency (NIA) on its website dated 22nd Sept, 2022, “…. these searches were conducted at the houses and offices of the top PFI leaders and members in connection with 5 cases (RC 14/2022/NIA/DLI, RC 41/2022/NIA/DLI , RC 42/2022/NIA/DLI, RC 2/2022/NIA/KOC, RC 3/2022/NIA/HYD) registered by the NIA following continued inputs and evidence that the PFI leaders and cadres were involved in funding of terrorism and terrorist activities, organising training camps for providing armed training and radicalising people to join banned organisations. RC 3/2022/NIA/HYD, was initially registered as FIR no.141/2022 on 04/07/2022 at Nizamabad PS, Telangana against over 25 PFI cadres”.

The raids: A means to instil fear in the Muslim community

The disproportionate nature of the response to the PFI was visibly seen in the ongoing mass raids undertaken all over India. Mostly late into the night busloads of armed CRPF suddenly set up blockades in Muslim dominated residential localities, closing access to streets where the raid was to happen, they were under siege for several hours. The idea was to intimidate and terrorize the entire Muslim community, by the display of weaponry and security gear. The police also promulgated sec 144 in some areas, like in Jamia Nagar, Delhi, where it is in force till mid-November 2022. This, in effect, ensures that protests and other democratic expressions of opinion are curtailed.

Past record of the FIRs not bearing critical scrutiny: The example of the Bihar Arms Training case of the PFI

In July of 2022, the Bihar police registered two FIRs naming 26 Muslims under “anti-national and terror activities” charges of the IPC in Phulwari Sharif in Bihar. The arrests were carried out just before the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Patna. The case is now with the NIA. One of the FIRs accused a member of the Popular Front of India (PFI) of “running arms training in the garb of martial arts.” The other FIR named one Muslim youth who was “mentally ill”, accusing him of “running an anti-India WhatsApp group”. The police also alleged that they found a PFI document claiming that India would become an Islamic nation by 2047.
The fact finding conducted by the Bihar state PUCL branch found that “prima facie no arms training, terror activities or radicalising youth was being undertaken in Phulwari Sharif area of Patna district.” The report also deplored the vilification by the media of the Muslims living in Phulwari Sharif. For instance the Hindi daily, Dainik Bhaskar which repeatedly called “Phulwari Sharif”, the sacred garden as “Aatank ki Phulwari” the garden of Terror. They concluded that the Bihar police’s charges were baseless. The false narrative of terror was built up by the media in support of the Bihar Police’s fabrication of the FIR and false arrests.

The unconstitutional ban on the PFI: Examination of the notification

If the FIR’s do point to cognizable offences, the resort to a ban by notification is disproportionate and arbitrary in nature. This sweeping response takes within its ken all activities of the PFI and its affiliates regardless of whether those activities fall within the framework of the Indian Constitution. The right approach in a constitutional democracy is to respect a plurality of forms of speech and association, including organisations and voices which express disagreeable opinions.
The notification for example states that, ‘they have been pursuing a secret agenda to radicalize a particular section of the society working towards undermining the concept of democracy.’ A democratic state’s response to perceived radicalization cannot be in the language of ban, which is a means of betraying the very values of the Constitution which we are claiming to uphold.
It is not the PUCL’s case that criminal acts should not be punished. Our emphasis is that the due process should be administered in an unbiased, non-discriminatory, fair and firm manner. In the incidents of the murders of specific individuals named in the Notification, viz., Sh. Sanjith (Kerala, November, 2021) or Sh. Praveen Nettaru (Karnataka, 2022), the due process of law should be followed and the guilty (whether they happen to be PFI members or not) should be punished in accordance with law. To link these murders as a justification for a ban is perverse and an arbitrary state response.

The consequences of the ban

The UAPA is a law which criminalizes guilt by association. Ordinary Muslims can now be arrested under Section 10 of the UAPA on the grounds that he or she is a ‘person who is and continues to be a member of the association’ or that he or she ‘contributes to or receives or solicits money for the purpose of such association’. This is not an idle speculation but borne out by the two decades long history behind the ban on a range of Muslim organisations from SIMI onwards resulting in many innocent Muslims youth and leaders being surveilled, criminalised, detained and arrested under UAPA in the name of being members of either SIMI, the Indian Mujahidin or Daesh (IS) based on flimsy evidence.
The world’s largest democracy should not resort to the politics of banning when it comes to organisations and viewpoints which it considers as ‘anti-national’. Instead India should demonstrate that as a functioning democracy there is no discrimination on grounds of religion. That is the only sustainable way of preserving ‘unity, integrity and fraternity amongst Indians’. The unity of India depends upon how Indian state and society ensure that the promise of a plural and inclusive nation is delivered to all its citizens. Bans are no solution.

The PUCL demands that

  • The ban be revoked, and a dialogue be established with the PFI.
  • All the arrested persons be released.
  • Desist from an arbitrary utilization of the power of arrest to target Muslim youth on grounds of membership or support of PFI and its affiliates.
  • Repeal the unconstitutional Unlawful Activities Prevention Act and also the NIA Act, in toto. In the interim, the NIA Act should be amended to ensure that the concerned State Government is consulted, and consent obtained before the NIA and MHA, Government of India chooses to launch a raid or arrest a resident in the concerned state.

Comments

Post a Comment

TRENDING

Manufacturing, services: India's low-skill, middle-skill labour remains underemployed

By Francis Kuriakose* The Indian economy was in a state of deceleration well before Covid-19 made its impact in early 2020. This can be inferred from the declining trends of four important macroeconomic variables that indicate the health of the economy in the last quarter of 2019.
Post a Comment
»

Why Indo-Pak relations have been on 'knife’s edge' , hostilities may remain for long

By Utkarsh Bajpai*  The past few decades have seen strides being made in all aspects of life – from sticks and stones to weaponry. The extreme case of this phenomenon has been nuclear weapons. The menace caused by nuclear weapons in the past is unforgettable. Images of Hiroshima and Nagasaki from 1945 come to mind, after the United States dropped two atomic bombs on the cities.
Post a Comment
»

Civil society flags widespread violations of land acquisition Act before Parliamentary panel

By Jag Jivan   Civil society organisations and stakeholders from across India have presented stark evidence before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Rural Development and Panchayati Raj , alleging systemic violations of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (RFCTLARR) Act, 2013 , particularly in Scheduled Areas and tribal regions.
Post a Comment
»

Food security? Gujarat govt puts more than 5 lakh ration cards in the 'silent' category

By Pankti Jog* A new statistical report uploaded by the Gujarat government on the national food security portal shows that ensuring food security for the marginalized community is still not a priority of the state. The statistical report, uploaded on December 24, highlights many weaknesses in implementing the National Food Security Act (NFSA) in state.
Post a Comment
»

Incarceration of Prof Saibaba 'revives' the question: What is crime, who is criminal?

By Kunal Pant* In 2016, a Supreme Court Judge asked the state of Maharashtra, “Do you want to extract a pound of flesh?” The statement was directed against the state for contesting the bail plea of Delhi University Professor GN Saibaba. Saibaba was arrested in 2014, a justification for which was to prevent him from committing what the police called “anti-national activities.”
Post a Comment
»

The soundtrack of resistance: How 'Sada Sada Ya Nabi' is fueling the Iran war

​ By Syed Ali Mujtaba*  ​The Persian track “ Sada Sada Ya Nabi ye ” by Hossein Sotoodeh has taken the world by storm. This viral media has cut across linguistic barriers to achieve cult status, reaching over 10 million views. The electrifying music and passionate rendition by the Iranian singer have resonated across the globe, particularly as the high-intensity military conflict involving Iran entered its second month in March 2026.
Post a Comment
»

Concentration of wealth in India at levels 'comparable to colonial times', says new report

By Jag Jivan  A new report published in March 2026 by the Centre for Financial Accountability and the Tax The Top campaign paints a stark picture of deepening economic disparity in India, documenting a concentration of wealth that it argues is “comparable to colonial times.” Titled Wealth Tracker India | Tax the Top. Close the Gap , the compilation presents data from the World Inequality Database and the Hurun Rich List to illustrate the meteoric rise of the ultra-wealthy alongside the stagnation and debt burdens of the majority.
Post a Comment
»

Protesters in UK cities voice concerns over alleged developments in Bastar region

By A Representative   Demonstrations were held across several cities in the United Kingdom on March 28, as groups and activists gathered to protest what they described as state actions in India under the reported “Operation Kagar.”
Post a Comment
»

Beneath the stone: Revisiting the New Jersey mandir controversy

By Rajiv Shah  A recent report published in the British media outlet The Guardian , titled “Workers carved the largest modern Hindu temple in the west. Now, some have incurable lung disease,” took me back to my visits to the New Jersey mandir —first in 2022, when it was still under construction, though parts of it were open to visitors, and again in 2024, after its completion.
Post a Comment
»