The Supreme Court granted bail to ex-PFI leader Abdul Sathar, saying jail can’t be used as punishment for ideology. He was accused in a 2022 RSS worker murder conspiracy case.
New Delhi: Today, On May 21, The Supreme Court of India has granted bail to Abdul Sathar, a former Secretary General of the now-banned organization Popular Front of India (PFI), in a case connected to the 2022 murder of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) worker Srinivasan in Kerala’s Palakkad district.
Though Sathar is not directly accused of the murder, he was allegedly involved in a larger conspiracy, according to the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which is leading the probe.
The NIA told the Supreme Court that while Abdul Sathar was not among those who carried out the murder, he was involved in recruiting people and conducting arms training when he served as the General Secretary of PFI.
The agency also mentioned that Sathar had been involved in 71 earlier instances of legal trouble.
However, Sathar’s lawyer, Senior Advocate Aditya Sondhi, argued that all those past cases were related to political protests like strikes and hartals and were based on ideological grounds.
Mr. Sondhi stated in court,
“The instances, though, involved strikes and hartals and was a matter of ideology,”
He also highlighted that the Kerala High Court had ordered Sathar to be included in those earlier cases only because he held a leadership role in the PFI.
ALSO READ: Gangster Chhota Rajan Convicted in ‘2001 Jaya Shetty Murder Case’ in Mumbai
Furthermore, Mr. Sondhi pointed out that his client had already been granted bail in all those previous cases.
“The Kerala High Court had directed that Sathar be arraigned in all these cases as the Secretary General of the PFI,” he said, and added, “Sathar had already secured bail in all these cases.”
The Supreme Court bench, consisting of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan, was hearing Sathar’s appeal against the Kerala High Court’s earlier decision to deny him bail.
After reviewing the matter, the top court decided to grant him bail.
Justice Abhay S Oka made a strong remark during the hearing, stating,
“For ideology you cannot put someone in jail.”
He further added,
“This is the trend we find. It is because they have adopted a particular ideology (they are put in jail).”
When the NIA argued that Abdul Sathar was being kept in custody to prevent any future crimes, the court criticized this justification, saying,
“That’s the problem with the approach… The approach is we will keep the person behind the bars.”
Justice Ujjal Bhuyan added,
“Subject him to trial, punish him. The process cannot become the punishment.”
The murder of RSS worker Srinivasan occurred on April 16, 2022, in Palakkad. It is alleged that members of the PFI were involved in carrying out the murder.
The investigation suggested that the incident was linked to several protests organized by the PFI during that time.
Out of the 44 individuals who were accused in this murder case, 35 were granted bail in June last year. Abdul Sathar was one of the nine accused who did not get bail back then.
READ ALSO: Kolkata Doctor’s Rape-Murder: Cal HC Directs Bengal Govt to Produce Case Diary At 1 pm
The Kerala High Court had then ruled that the charges against those nine, including Sathar, appeared to be “prima facie true.”
With the Supreme Court now granting him bail, the legal journey for Abdul Sathar will continue, but he will not remain in custody while facing trial.
Click Here to Read Our Reports on Divorce
FOLLOW US FOR MORE LEGAL UPDATES ON YOUTUBE
