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3 Alleged PFI members can meet lawyers in jail, UP govt tells Allahabad HC
The petitioners had challenged the order of the Mathura chief judicial magistrate by which they were sent to judicial remand.
The Uttar Pradesh government told the Allahabad high court last week that the three alleged Popular Front of India (PFI) members, who were arrested on October 5 last year while they were going to Hathras to meet the family of a gang rape and murder victim, can meet lawyers in jail in accordance with the jail manual.
Additional advocate general Manish Goyal, representing the government, made this submission before the court after counsel for the alleged PFI members stated that the superintendent of Mathura jail was not allowing them to meet the petitioners in jail.
On January 28, hearing the habeas corpus petition by Atiq-ur-Rehman from Muzaffarnagar, Masood from Bahraich and Alam from Rampur, a division bench comprising Justice Surya Prakash Kesarwani and Justice Shamim Ahmed fixed February 4 as the next date of hearing.
Earlier on January 5, the court had directed the central and state governments to file a counter affidavit in the petition filed by three alleged PFI members.
In the FIR against three, it was alleged that they were going to Hathras to take undue benefit of the rape and murder case, disturb the law and order situation and fuel caste riots in the state.
Seeking release from jail, the petitioners had challenged the order of the magistrate by which they were sent to judicial remand. Their petitioners said the Mathura chief judicial magistrate did not have the jurisdiction to try the matter or remand them in custody. The petition added that Rehman and Masood were going to meet the bereaved family while Alam was transporting them to the destination.
The PFI is an Islamic organisation formed as a successor to the National Development Front (NDF) in 2006. It has often been accused of involvement in anti-national and anti-social activities by the government.
