Supreme Court denies bail to ex-PFI chairman Abubacker in UAPA case

The Supreme Court on Friday refused to grant bail on medical grounds to former chairman of the outlawed Popular Front of India (PFI) E Abubacker in a case registered against him under anti-terror law UAPA.

Abubacker, who was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) during a massive crackdown on the organisation in 2022, had approached the high court after the trial court rejected his bail application.

A bench of Justices MM Sundresh and Rajesh Bindal said it was not inclined to release Abubacker at this stage after looking at the medical report.

According to the central anti-terror agency, the PFI, its office bearers and members hatched a criminal conspiracy to raise funds for committing acts of terror in various parts of the country and were organising camps to indoctrinate and train their cadre for this purpose.

In his plea, Abubacker claimed he is in his 70s, has Parkinson's disease, and had also undergone surgery for treatment of cancer. He contended that on merits also he was entitled to bail as the NIA has "miserably" failed to put together a case against him.

Abubacker was arrested on September 22, 2022.

The arrests were made in 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, accusing them of having links with global terror groups like the ISIS.