Delhi HC grants 3-day custody parole to PFI leader OMA Salam to travel to Kerala
New Delhi (PTI): The Delhi High Court on Monday permitted Popular Front of India leader OMA Salam to travel to Kerala on custody parole of three days to perform certain rituals in relation to the death of his daughter last year.
Justice Ravinder Dudeja granted 3-day custody parole of six hours each day to the PFI chairman and directed him not to use mobile phone or have any public engagement during this duration.
The judge, while clarifying that he would pass a detailed order, also said that the expenses for the travel would be borne by Salam.
"Custody parole granted for 3 days, six hours a day. One visit to the graveyard, rest (of the rituals to be performed) at home. No mobile, no photographs, no public engagement," the court said.
Salam, arrested in an Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act case against the proscribed organisation and its members, sought permission to travel in custody to his hometown in Kerala for performing certain ceremonies for 15 days following his daughter's death last year.
Custody parole entails a prisoner being escorted by armed police personnel to the place of visit.
Counsel for the NIA opposed Salam's plea on the grounds that he was a security threat, whose presence in Kerala would put a "tremendous pressure of the state".
"The man is chairman of PFI. He is a law and order risk.. he wanted to spread Sharia law in the country. There was widespread violence," the NIA counsel said.
Asserting that ceremonies take a backseat in the face of national security, the NIA counsel also said the rituals in questions were only optional.
He emphasised that at the time of passing of the accused's daughter, the NIA had not opposed custody parole for three days but at this stage, a prolonged custody parole was not possible.
"After a year (of daughter's death) you say I want to go to Kerala for 15 days. This is just a ruse to go to Kerala. One day is alright, he may go," added the counsel.
Salam's counsel said custody parole, even if for five days, should be granted to him on humanitarian grounds.
He assured the court that Salam would be at home or visit the daughter's grave and not interact with anyone else except his family.
He had earlier said rituals were slated to take place between April 18 and May 2.
Salam moved the high court last week against a trial court order, which granted him a day and six hours of custody parole.
The PFI chairperson was arrested by the NIA in a massive crackdown on the banned organisation in 2022.
The probe agency alleged the PFI, its officer bearers and members hatched a criminal conspiracy to raise funds for committing acts of terror in various parts of the country aside from conducting camps to indoctrinate and train their cadres for this purpose.
Preceding the nationwide ban, in near-simultaneous raids across the country as part of a multi-agency operation spearheaded by the NIA, a large number of PFI activists were detained or arrested in 11 states for allegedly supporting terror activities in the country.
The arrests were made in states and Union Territories, including Kerala, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Puducherry, Delhi and Rajasthan.
The government banned the PFI and several of its associate organisations on September 28, 2022 for five years under the stringent anti-terror law, the Unlawful Activities (prevention) Act (UAPA), accusing them of having links with global terror groups like the ISIS.
Last year, Salam had sought interim bail from the high court on the grounds that his wife was in a "depressive state" following the death of his daughter.
The plea was, however, rejected by the high court, saying that Salam was "a person of great influence" who managed and administered PFI for several years, and enlarging him on interim bail would not only entail flight risk but also the possibility of several witnesses being influenced.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
