HC asks NIA to respond to plea for FIR copy lodged against suspected PFI members

The Delhi High Court Friday sought response of the NIA on a plea seeking a copy of an FIR registered against alleged members of the banned Popular Front of India PFI in a case lodged under the antiterror law Justice Anoop Kumar Mendiratta issued notice to the National Investigation Agency NIA on a petition filed by one Mohd Yusuff who was arrested from his residence in Chennai on September 22 in the case lodged under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act UAPADuring the hearing the counsel for the NIA submitted that the Additional Solicitor General who has to argue the case was unwell after which the court listed the matter for October 10Petitioner Yusuff who claims to be a practising advocate sought direction to the NIA to provide him a copy of the FIR lodged by the agency on April 13 and also to provide a copy of the grounds of arrest of each accused person in connection with the caseHe also sought a copy of the remand applications filed by the NIA before a trial courtThe petitioner said he was arrested at around 3 AM on September 22 from his residence in Chennai by the NIA along with others who all were picked up from different parts of the country and brought to Delhi by the agencyAlso Read Amit Shah reaches Sikkims Gangtok overwhelmed by peoples receptionAt the time of his arrest the respondent NIA did not communicate to the petitioner any particulars of the offence for which he has been arrested or any grounds of such arrest in clear violation of the statutory mandate provided under Section 50 of the Code of Criminal Procedure CrPC read with Article 221 of the Constitution the plea submittedIt said when the accused were produced before a trial court here their counsel sought for a copy of the FIR on September 22 as well as on September 26However the additional sessions judge ASJ denied the application filed by the petitioner on grounds that the matter is of a sensitive nature and that providing a copy of the FIR would hamper the investigation the petitioner submittedTill date the petitioner is unaware of the particulars of the offences or the allegations against him despite being in the custody of the respondent since September 22The ASJ failed to appreciate that Section 50 CrPC clearly provides that every police officer arresting any person without warrant is required to communicate to such person the full particulars of the offence for which he is arrested or other grounds for such arrest No such information has been given to the petitioner till date the petition submittedIt added that Article 221 of the Constitution prohibits the detention of a person arrested and in custody without being informed of the grounds of such arrestThe plea said that denial of the FIR circumscribing the allegations and particulars of the offences against the accused persons is a clear violation of the principles of natural justice and the accused persons right to a fair trial and investigationTill now the NIA has arrested 19 cadres of the PFI from different parts of the country in a multiagency operation led by the NIAOut of these 19 people 16 are in judicial custody and three are in NIA custody till October 10In nearsimultaneous raids across the length and breadth of the country a multiagency operation spearheaded by NIA led to the arrest of 106 activists of PFI in 11 states for allegedly supporting terror activities in the countryThe arrests were made in various states including Kerala Maharashtra Karnataka Tamil Nadu Assam Uttar Pradesh Andhra Pradesh Madhya Pradesh Puducherry and Delhi and RajasthanAccording to the NIA officials the arrests were made during the raids which have been termed the largestever investigation process till dateThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever