HC notices to Centre, state on plea seeking release of three alleged PFI members
PRAYAGRAJ: The Allahabad high court on Wednesday issued notices to the Central and state governments while hearing a petition seeking the release of three alleged Popular Front of India (PFI) members, who were arrested by the Mathura police on October 5 when they were going to Hathras to meet the family of a gang rape and murder victim.
The bench comprising Justice Pritinker Diwaker and Justice SC Sharma has issued notices to the Central government, the state government, the superintendent of Mathura district jail and Prabal Pratap Singh, sub-inspector of Maant police station in Mathura.
The habeas corpus writ petition was filed on behalf of Atique-ur-Rehman, a student, Alam, a cab driver, and Masud, an activist, seeking their release from jail.
The petitioners had challenged the order of the magistrate, by which they were sent to judicial remand, stating that the same was unlawful and the magistrate had no jurisdiction to issue a remand order in their case.
According to the petitioners, the Mathura chief judicial magistrate had no jurisdiction either to try the matter or remand the petitioners to police or judicial custody, in light of the latest judgment of the Supreme Court.
In the petition, it was stated that Atique-ur-Rehman and Masud were going to meet the bereaved family and offer them consolation. Further, Alam, being a taxi driver, was ferrying them to the destination, the petition said. However, they were detained on October 5, 2020, in Mathura, while they were on their way.
Representing the petitioners, senior advocate SFA Naqvi argued, “The petitioners are unfortunate victims and scapegoats of the high-handedness of the police authorities. None of them are PFI members. They have committed no offence, which is clear from a bare perusal of the sections slapped on them and the allegations in the FIR, which are completely false and bogus, and no case against them is made out.”
The petition, besides seeking quashing the remand order of the chief judicial magistrate, Mathura, has also prayed for a direction to release the three on bail.
Senior advocate SFA Naqvi and advocates Shashwat Anand and Sarveshwari Prasad appeared for the petitioners. Additional government advocate JK Upadhyay represented the state government.
The petitioners were apprehended on October 5 by the Mathura police invoking preventive powers under Sections 107, 116 and 151 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The court has fixed December 14 as the next date of hearing in the case.