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A Delhi tribunal connected Friday (June 5, 2026) ordered the framing of charges against 25 radical associated with the banned Popular Front of India (PFI), including its chairman, holding that the probe truthful acold has disclosed a “grave suspicion” of a conspiracy to overthrow India’s secular antiauthoritarian authorities and found an Islamic caliphate governed by Sharia instrumentality by 2047.
Additional Sessions Judge Prashant Sharma of the Patiala House Courts directed that charges beryllium framed nether assorted provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) against the accused including PFI president O.M.A. Salam, vice-chairman E.M. Abdul Rahiman, wide caput Anis Ahmed, founding president E. Abubacker, founding PFI National Executive Council (NEC) subordinate P. Koya, NEC subordinate Mohammed Ali Jinnah and respective different nationalist and State-level functionaries. Similar charges were framed connected the PFI arsenic an organisation.
“Considered arsenic a whole, the worldly connected grounds raises sedate suspicion that the accused, acting done and connected behalf of the Popular Front of India and its National Executive Council (NEC), agreed and acted successful furtherance of a azygous conspiracy to overthrow the secular antiauthoritarian Government of India and to found an Islamic Caliphate nether Sharia instrumentality successful India by oregon earlier the twelvemonth 2047 done an equipped conflict against the State,” the orders reads.
The justice noted that the alleged conspiracy operated astatine aggregate levels, with antithetic accused assigned circumstantial roles. According to the order, immoderate members were progressive successful strategical decision-making astatine the NEC level, portion others handled State-level execution, recruitment, arms training, panic financing and enactment activities linked to the Islamic State (ISIS).
The tribunal referred to respective meetings, grooming programmes and organisational activities relied upon by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to found what it described arsenic a “meeting of minds” among the accused.
Among the events cited were the 2018 Leadership Eligibility Course successful Pune, wherever NEC members allegedly conducted specialised sessions; a 2017 NEC gathering successful Aurangabad, wherever 1 accused was introduced arsenic the all-India carnal acquisition coordinator; and a reappraisal sojourn to Hyderabad successful 2021 by a elder PFI functionary.
The bid besides mentions meetings held during the Shaheen Bagh protests successful Delhi successful 2021, interactions relating to the organisation’s Mohalla Committee inaugural successful Madurai successful Tamil Nadu, and gatherings astatine Freedom Hall and Mithur successful Karnataka.
A cardinal portion of grounds cited by the tribunal was the confidential “Vision 2047” document, which the prosecution alleged outlined the organisation’s semipermanent nonsubjective of establishing Islamic regularisation successful India. The tribunal noted that the papers purportedly identified 1 of the accused arsenic the aboriginal Amir of the projected caliphate.
During the hearings connected framing of charges, Special Public Prosecutor Rahul Tyagi alleged that the banned organisation had sought to radicalise Muslim youth, beforehand hostility towards Hindus, and physique a web susceptible of destabilising the country. He argued that the PFI had concealed its objectives down payment activities and was moving towards establishing an Islamic state.
Mr. Tyagi was assisted by Assisting Public Prosecutor Vikas Walia, Jatin Khatri, advocator Amit Rohilla and advocator Shubham Goyal.
The defence challenged the prosecution’s claims by comparing PFI with RSS and contended that if the second could advocator a ‘Hindu Rashtra’, the PFI could not beryllium faulted simply for expressing enactment for an Islamic nation.
The NIA had registered a lawsuit of UAPA against PFI leaders successful April 2022. The Union authorities subsequently banned the organisation and its affiliates. The prohibition was aboriginal upheld by the UAPA Tribunal.
