60 Charged In Pune For Protest Over Action Against Popular Front (PFI)

The Pune police have registered an offence against more than 60 persons for holding without permission a protest in the city against the nationwide raids on the Popular Front of India (PFI) and the arrest of its activists, an official said on Saturday.

Police had detained 41 of these protesters during their agitation held outside the Pune district collectorate on Friday, he said.

"We have registered an offence against more than 60 persons, including 41 who were detained yesterday, for organising a protest without permission, for unlawful assembly and for blocking the road," senior inspector Pratap Mankar of Bundgarden police station said.

The police had earlier given a notice to the organisers not to hold any protest, but they did not follow the order, he said.

Accordingly, an offence was registered against the protesters under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 141, 143 ,145, 147,149 (all pertaining to unlawful assembly), 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) and 341 (wrongful restraint), and also under sections the Maharashtra Police Act.

In a massive crackdown on the PFI, multi-agency teams spearheaded by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) had, on Thursday, arrested 106 leaders and activists of the radical Islamic outfit in near-simultaneous raids in 15 states for allegedly supporting terror activities in the country.

Maharashtra and Karnataka accounted for 20 arrests each, Tamil Nadu (10), Assam (9), Uttar Pradesh (8), Andhra Pradesh (5), Madhya Pradesh (4), Puducherry and Delhi (3 each) and Rajasthan (2).

The PFI, formed in 2006, claims to strive for a neo-social movement ostensibly for the empowerment of marginalised sections of India, and is often accused by law enforcement agencies of promoting radical Islam.