Lucknow NIA Court Grants Bail To Abdullah Saud Ansari Accused Of Being An Active Member Of Banned Outfit PFI

The Addl. District & Sessions Judge Special Judge,N.IA/A.T.S, Lucknow Vivekanand Sharan Tripathi found sufficient grounds to release him on bail after taking into account the submissions of his counsel that the sections imposed on him are punishable with imprisonment of less than seven years and he has been languishing in jail since September 2022.

“It is clear from the perusal of the prosecution papers that in the present case, the accused is a member of the banned organization P.F.I. and he was found in possession of material and video clips related to the P.F.I., however, it is the statement of the accused that no objectionable material has been recovered from him. He has been arrested by the investigating officer after calling him to the police station on the pretext of questioning and the sections imposed on him are punishable with imprisonment of less than seven years,” the Court observed in its order.

Ansari was arrested last year in September from his residence in one of the raids conducted by the NIA wherein he was allegedly found in possession of materials related to PFI and inflammatory speeches of the PFI.

As per the allegations, certain other video footage was also recovered from him showing how the Muslim community is being oppressed by other communities. A video related to the crime committed by the security forces on the Muslim community was also found with him.

Significantly, it was also alleged that he had shared the video of Zafarul Islam making serious allegations against NIA after the Centre’s ban on PFI which proved that Ansari is an active member of PFI and in fact, he confessed that he is working as an active member of PFI since 2017.

Consequently, he was arrested and booked under sections 153A, 153B of the Indian Penal Code and sections 7,8,13(1)(a)(b) and 13(2) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

Moving the Court seeking bail, the counsels for Ansari contended that the prosecution falsely implicated him when he had gone to the concerned police station to cooperate with the investigating officer, wherein, he was illegally detained and taken to judicial remand without giving any information to his family which is a direct violation of Section 41A of the Criminal Procedure Code.

Further, it was argued that the police put a lot of pressure on the applicant and made him sign several plain papers, however, nothing had been recovered from him which could prove that he was involved in any suspicious or anti-national activities.

Lastly, relying upon the law laid down by the Supreme Court in Satendra Kumar Antil vs Central Bureau of Investigation and others and Arnesh Kumar vs State of Bihar and others, his counsels sought bail on the ground that the offence alleged against him are punishable with less than 7 years of imprisonment.

Taking into account these submissions, the Court granted him bail on the condition of furnishing a personal bond of Rs. 50K and two sureties of the like amount and shall cooperate in the trial.

Advocate Najmusaqib Khan, Azizullah Khan, Sajid Khan, and Obaidullah Khan represented the applicant facilitated by the Association for the Protection of Civil Rights.