Kerala High Court Grants Bail To One PFI Member Accused In RSS Leader Sreenivasan's Murder, Denies Bail To Two Others
The Kerala High Court has granted bail to one Shihab P, an alleged member of the Popular Front of India, accused for murder of RSS leader Sreenivasan at Melamuri Junction in Palakkad Town in Kerala on April 16, 2022.The Division Bench comprising Justice A.K.Jayasankaran Nambiar and Justice Syam Kumar V.M. found no reasonable ground to believe that the accusations made against him are prima...
The Kerala High Court has granted bail to one Shihab P, an alleged member of the Popular Front of India, accused for murder of RSS leader Sreenivasan at Melamuri Junction in Palakkad Town in Kerala on April 16, 2022.
The Division Bench comprising Justice A.K.Jayasankaran Nambiar and Justice Syam Kumar V.M. found no reasonable ground to believe that the accusations made against him are prima facie true. It thus held he is entitled to bail under Section 43 (D) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.
The Court however denied bail to Kaja Hussain and Jaleel P, also alleged to be PFI members involved in the murder, on finding a prima facie case against them.
44 persons were arrested by the Police in connection with this case. Later, the probe was taken over by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) based on the allegations that the murder was part of a larger criminal conspiracy to instigate and radicalise to commit terrorist acts in Kerala.
The NIA registered an FIR against the same accused persons under Sections 120B, 153A of the IPC read with Sections 13, 18, 18B, 38 and 39 of the UAPA and the matter was transferred to Special Court at Ernakulam.
The central agency filed consolidated charge sheets, after which the accused persons approached the Special Court for bail. Having been denied the relief, the trio moved the High Court.
Prosecution claimed that Kaja Hussain (26th accused) had received arms training from PFI and had attended various conspiracy meetings to commit the murder.
The Court found that Hussain played a crucial role in facilitating the commission of the terrorist act by transferring crucial information. It thus held that Hussain is disentitled to get bail under Section 43D (5) of the UAPA. "The nature of the information allegedly passed on by the appellant which facilitated the commission of the terror act is what matters..." it observed.
So far as Jaleel P is concerned, prosecution opposed bail on the ground that he was in charge of physical education wing of PFI.
The Court found that Jaleel harboured Kaja Hussain and facilitated his medical treatment, since both of them worked as members of PFI. The court thus stated that Jaleel is not entitled to get bail under the UAPA.
However, Court found no reasonable grounds to believe that the accusations made against Shihab P are prima facie true. It also said there was no corroborative materials or other overt acts or acts of active participation to deny bail. It thus stated that Shihab is entitled to bail.
“There is no corroborative material, other than mere statements of witnesses, to show that there were overt acts or acts of active participation by Shihab P. @ Babu in order to deny him bail. We are hence unable to conclude from the material placed before us that there are reasonable grounds for believing that the accusation against Shihab P. @ Babu is prima facie true. Accordingly, the Crl.Appeal preferred by Shihab P.@ Babu has to be allowed. The impugned orders of the Special Court in Crl.A.No.1591 of 2024 shall stand set aside.”
As such, the Court allowed the criminal appeal moved by Shihab and enlarged him on bail. It dismissed the criminal appeals moved by Kaja Hussain and Jaleel.
Earlier, the High Court granted bail to seventeen accused persons on the finding that there exists no reasonable ground to believe that the accusations made against them were prima facie true.
Case Number: CRL.A NO.1198 OF 2024 & Connected Cases
Case Title: Jaleel P v Union of India
Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Ker) 576