UAPA case: Kerala High Court to hear bail petition on Thursday.

Source – deccanchronicle.com

The prosecution sought two days to submit arguments when the bail pleas of two students held for alleged Maoist links came up in the court on Monday amidst reports of the police having second thoughts on the applicability of  UAPA.

Granting the time, the District Sessions Court postponed the hearing to Thursday and sent the students in judicial custody, Alan Shuhaib and Thaha Fazal, back to the jail.

With mounting pressure on the government from the CPI against slapping the harsh anti-terror law on the youngsters and the fuming protests with the CPM, chances of removing UAPA from the charge-sheet are high.

Legal circles say if the state insists, the investigation officer can appeal to the court to remove the UAPA sections. Kerala High Court had earlier ruled that just possessing Maoist material is insufficient to attract UAPA.

The court witnessed emotional scenes as Sabitha Madathil, the mother of Mr Shuhaib, broke down seeing the 19-year-old at the court, while Jameela, the mother of Mr Fazal, reposed trust in the CPM, to which both families belong. “My two sons are strong party workers who have full faith in it. The party had assured us to save my son,” she told reporters on the court premises.

Ijaz, brother of Mr Fazal, said that the police team that came to raid their home past Saturday midnight, said they took him into custody as they found Maoist materials from the bag of a third person who ran away.

It was from the bag he left that the police seized the purported Maoist material.

He alleged that the cops made Mr Fazal shout Maoist slogans by threatening to trap him in a ganja smuggling case. During the raid, he said, they seized only study materials, including books, from his room.