The All Indian Lawyers’ Association for Justice (AILAJ) has alleged that the NIA and ED raids on the Popular Front of India (PFI), is a case government weaponising investigative agencies. The lawyer’s association also alleged that the allegations against the PFI are “bare, having no reference to any actual incident or crime”.
“Weaponisation of the government’s investigative agencies and criminal law could not be clearer, and AILAJ condemns such politically motivated abuse of government machinery, which is also a clampdown on voices speaking up to abuse of state power,” AILAJ president Maitreyi Krishnan said in a statement.
AILAJ also pointed out that the nationwide searches occurred on the same day that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) asked a court to deny a motion from ex-RSS member Yashwant Shinde in the 2006 Nanded bomb blast case. Shinde had alleged that several RSS and VHP meetings had discussed plans to bomb several places in the country.
The association also said that NIA officials have been quoted as justifying the raids, stating that PFI had links to Dalit organisations.
“We also believe this is a conscious attempt to spread Islamophobia among the public and demonise Muslims as a community, which is already reeling under an all-out attack by the RSS-BJP, using the state apparatus as state-sponsored mob violence,” said Maitreyi.
