Hathras case: UP Police detains four youth associated with PFI on suspicion of planning disturbance in state

PFI) and its affiliate Campus Front of India on the suspicion that they had plans to disturb the harmony in the state.

The youth, intercepted by the police in Mathura while on their way from Delhi to Hathras were in possession of mobile phones, laptops and “suspicious literature” considered to be containing content that could adversely impact the peace in the state, a note shared by the government, said.

The four youth- Ateek-ur-Rehman from Muzaffarnagar, Siddiqui from Mallapuram in Kerala, Masood Ahmed from Bahraich and Alam from Rampur- have been taken into custody as preventive action while joint interrogations are going on that will be followed by further action.

With its origin in Kerala, the PFI started as a successor to National Development Front (NDF), a Muslim organization in the state, in 2006. It’s vision has been to empower all kinds of minorities- Dalits, tribals, religious, linguistic and cultural – and try to establish an “egalitarian” society, according to information available on its website.

Some states have also sought a ban on the outfit, including Jharkhand and Assam. UP had also sought a ban last year after it arrested members from the organization for allegedly propagating riots across the state during protests organized against the CAA. The violence had killed more than 20 across the state last year in December.

The organization had condemned the arrests by the government and had called it a “conspiracy of the government” against it by falsely implicating its associates.