Delhi HC denies interim bail to PFI leader OMA Salam in UAPA case

The Delhi High Court on Friday refused to grant interim bail to Popular Front of India (PFI) leader OMA Salam, arrested in a case registered under the anti-terror law UAPA against the banned organisation and its members.

A bench of justices Prathiba M Singh and Amit Sharma rejected Salam's plea seeking a release for two weeks and said no case was made out for grant of interim bail.

The present plea is dismissed, the bench said.

Salam had sought two weeks' interim bail on the ground that his daughter passed away in April and his wife was now in a "depressive state".

Salam, the chairman of the PFI, was arrested by anti-terror agency NIA during a massive crackdown on the banned organisation in 2022.

According to the National Investigation Agency, the PFI, its officer bearers and members hatched a criminal conspiracy to raise funds for committing acts of terror in various parts of the country and were conducting camps to indoctrinate and train their cadres for this purpose.

Preceding the nationwide ban, in near-simultaneous raids across the country as part of a multi-agency operation spearheaded by the NIA, a large number of PFI activists were detained or arrested in 11 states for allegedly supporting terror activities in the country.

The arrests were made in states and Union Territories, including Kerala, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Puducherry, Delhi and Rajasthan.

The government banned the PFI and several of its associate organisations on September 28, 2022 for five years under the stringent anti-terror law, the Unlawful Activities (prevention) Act (UAPA), accusing them of having links with global terror groups like the ISIS.