The Supreme Court has granted bail to Sonu Mansuri, a 21-year-old Muslim law intern from Indore. Mansuri had been languishing in jail for 50 days following a complaint lodged by lawyers with ties to a Hindutva organisation.
She was suspected of recording the court hearings on film and posing as a lawyer, which led to her being branded as a PFI agent. She was arrested on 29 January 2023.
Using a rigorous anti-terrorism law, the Center had, in September 2022, banned the PFI and many of its members for a period of five years. The Center accused them of having a “connection” with global terror organisations such as ISIS and of attempting to foment communal enmity throughout the country.
Prior to the imposition of the ban, the National Investigating Agency (NIA), the Enforcement Directorate (ED), and various state police forces had conducted raids as part of a massive pan-Indian crackdown on the PFI. They had also arrested a number of the organization’s leaders and activists from a variety of states on the suspicion that they supported terrorist activities within the country.
