New Delhi, May 21 (H.C.): The Supreme Court granted bail on Wednesday to Abdul Sathar, a leader of the Popular Front of India (PFI), who is accused of the murder of RSS worker Srinivasan in Palakkad, Kerala in 2022. The bench headed by Justice AS Oka stated that a person cannot be kept in custody for a long time solely based on their ideology.
The court rejected the NIA’s argument that the accused should be kept in custody to prevent any future crime. The court said that we are observing that if a person adopts a particular ideology, he is jailed. You cannot imprison someone for their ideology.
During the hearing, the NIA opposed Sathar’s bail application, stating that 71 cases are registered against him. The NIA mentioned that Sathar is the face of the PFI and has been prominently involved in protests against the arrests of other PFI members.
Senior Advocate Aditya Sondhi, representing Sattar, stated that the 71 FIRs registered against him are related to the strike that took place in Kerala on September 23, 2022. This was because the Kerala High Court, in its order, had mentioned that Sathar’s name should be included as an accused in all FIRs related to that strike.
Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar
