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States start sealing premises of PFI, affiliates after Centre’s ban
On Wednesday, the Union home ministry had banned PFI and the eight affiliates for alleged “anti-national” activities and said those associated with the organisation were involved in Islamic radicalisation and terror activities, with over 1,400 criminal cases registered across the country.
State governments on Thursday started issuing orders for sealing offices of the banned Popular Front of India (PFI) and eight of its affiliates and sealing their bank accounts, hours after the Union home ministry delegated them with the requisite powers.
On Wednesday, the Union home ministry had banned PFI and the eight affiliates for alleged “anti-national” activities and said those associated with the organisation were involved in Islamic radicalisation and terror activities, with over 1,400 criminal cases registered across the country.
In a letter to chief secretaries of all states and Union territories on Thursday, the home ministry said all the powers exercised under section 7 and 8 of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, 1967, (UAPA) shall be exercised by the state governments and UT administrations. “Accordingly, the state governments and UT administrations may please take further action,” the letter said.
Following the direction, several state governments initiated action against PFI. PFI’s Twitter account was also taken down on Thursday. The government had already barred access to several websites of the outfit and its affiliates on Wednesday.
Tamil Nadu governor R N Ravi delegated powers to commissioners of police in cities and district collectors to take action against the outfit’s offices and bank accounts.
The PFI has a sizeable presence in places in the state that are situated close to Kerala — such as Coimbatore, where protests broke out on September 23, a day after the nationwide raids by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) against top office-bearers of PFI.
In Kerala, where the PFI started in 2006 and had its strongest base, the police on Thursday sealed about a dozen offices of the outfit. “We have also started the process of freezing bank accounts of some persons associated with PFI,” an official said.
Meanwhile, the Karnataka police closed down 42 offices of PFI and its affiliates on Thursday. In the operation that began early on Thursday morning, 28 offices were sealed in coastal Karnataka’s Udupi and Dakshina Kannada districts while four were sealed in Bengaluru, among others. “As per inspectors’ report and DCP reports, the city police commissioner has notified four places in Bengaluru as properties of unlawful association under UAPA and we have sealed these four places,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central), R Srinivasa Gowda.
Mangaluru police commissioner N Sashi Kumar said officers were provided with a list of procedures to be carried out during the closure. “The state government has also issued an order following the ban, in which details of what procedures to be carried. As per the rules, we have seized these offices and further action will follow,” he said.
In the national capital, the Delhi Police sealed three PFI offices — one in Shaheen Bagh and two in Jamia Nagar.
Delhi Police commissioner, Sanjay Arora, issued an order empowering the station house officer (SHO), or any other Inspector of Shaheen Bagh police station to take the necessary action for execution of the notification.
The Punjab government also issued an order directing district magistrates and police commissioners to initiate action against the outfit. Officers in the state said identification and sealing of PFI offices will start from Friday.
In Assam, the police sealed three offices of PFI, including the organisation’s state head office at Hatigaon, besides one office each at Karimganj and Baksa, additional director general of police (special branch), Hiren Nath, said.
“’We are monitoring the situation closely. No arrests have been made since September 27 when 25 PFI activists across eight districts were apprehended. We will arrest all those who are wanted in connection with the cases registered by the police,” he said.
Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) chief Vineet Agarwal on Thursday said PFI had drawn up a plan to encourage its members to commit hate crimes and carry out targeted killings.
Agarwal, an additional DGP, said that during its recent operation in Maharashtra, the ATS seized incriminating documents from people arrested for links with PFI and one of the papers talked about the outfit’s ‘roadmap’ till 2047.
(With inputs from Chennai, Bengaluru, Thiruvananthapuram, Chandigarh, Delhi and Mumbai)
