Supreme Court Refuses Bail to Ex-PFI Chief Abubakar in Major Setback

New Delhi (The Uttam Hindu): The Supreme Court on Friday refused to grant bail to former president of the banned Popular Front of India (PFI) E. Abubacker on medical grounds in a case registered under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).

Abu Bakar's lawyer had filed a petition in the Supreme Court, which has been rejected by the court. After seeing the medical report, the division bench of Justice MM Sundaresh and Justice Rajesh Bindal said that Abu Bakar cannot be granted bail at this time.

The division bench also rejected the petition of Abu Bakar's senior advocate Gopal Shankar Narayan, in which as an alternative, he was requested to be kept under house arrest. It also told the senior advocate that if his health deteriorates further, he can approach the lower court.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested Abu Bakar during a massive crackdown on the organisation in 2022. He has been in jail since then.

According to media reports, earlier the Delhi High Court had refused to grant bail to him, rejecting his bail plea filed on medical grounds. After this, now the Supreme Court has also rejected his plea.

According to the National Investigation Agency (NIA), PFI, its office bearers and members had hatched a criminal conspiracy to raise funds to carry out terrorist attacks in various parts of the country and were organising camps to train its activists for this purpose.

It is worth noting that Abu Bakar had argued in his petition filed in the High Court that there is no material to support the NIA's case against him under UAPA. Therefore, he is entitled to bail. The petition also claimed that he is 70 years old, he has Parkinson's disease and he has also undergone surgery for cancer treatment. However, the court rejected his bail plea.