The Bengaluru police have invoked the Illegal Actions (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in opposition to 15 individuals arrested on September 22 for supporting the alleged subversive actions of the Common Entrance of India (PFI), previous to the banning of the organisation on September 27 by the Union Ministry of Dwelling Affairs (MHA).
Within the wake of the nationwide raids by the Nationwide Investigation Company (NIA) in opposition to the PFI and its office-bearers, the Bengaluru police registered a separate case of trying to wage warfare in opposition to the nation and selling enmity between teams in opposition to 19 individuals linked to the PFI who weren’t arrested by the NIA.
“The UAPA has been invoked within the case in opposition to the accused on account of the involvement of some in crimes previously,” a senior Bengaluru police official mentioned. The provisions of the UAPA are normally invoked in circumstances of terrorism when there’s proof {that a} crime was carried out as a part of a conspiracy to focus on nationwide integrity.
The UAPA offers the police custody of suspects for 30 days and 180 days to conduct investigations earlier than submitting chargesheets as a substitute of 90 days in lesser crimes. The regulation can also be very stringent in relation to granting bail to the accused.
The Bengaluru police claimed that the case in opposition to the 19 alleged PFI supporters was registered within the wake of credible info that they had been plotting to create communal disturbances. Some arrested within the new case have a historical past of involvement in earlier circumstances of rioting, the police claimed.
The police registered the case on the Okay G Halli police station, which witnessed an incident of rioting in 2020 over an inflammatory social media put up. The police earlier invoked Indian Penal Code sections 121, on waging warfare in opposition to the nation, and part 153 (a), on selling enmity between teams.
The NIA throughout its nationwide crackdown arrested seven PFI office-bearers from Karnataka — Anis Ahmed, Afsar Pasha, Abdul Wahid Sait, Yasar Arafath Hasan, Mohammed Shakib @ Shakif, Muhammed Farooq Ur Rahman, and Shahid Nasir.
Concurrently, the Karnataka police named 19 different PFI activists in a case of waging warfare in opposition to the nation and selling enmity between teams in Bengaluru metropolis. The FIR named 19 PFI activists – Nasir Pasha, Mansoor Ahmed from Bengaluru; Sheikh Ejaz Ali from Kalaburagi; Mohammed Kalimullah from Mysuru; Mohammaed Ashraf Ankajal, Mohammed Shareef, Abdul Khader Puttur, Mohammed Thafseer, Mohiyuddin, Navaz Kavoor, Ashraf, Abdul Razzak Kemmara, and Ayub Okay Angady from Mangaluru and Dakshina Kannada; Shahid Khan from Shivamogga, Tahir Hussain and Imamuddin from Davanagere; Abdul Aziz and Mousin Abdul Shukur from Uttara Kannada; and Mohammed Fayaz from Koppal.