New Delhi: Three years after the Popular Front of India (PFI) was banned, dozens of its senior leaders remain imprisoned as undertrial prisoners. On 22 September 2025, leaders including PFI’s former chief and SDPI founder president E Abubacker, journalist and NCHRO general secretary Professor P Koya, former national chairman OMA Salam, and former vice chairman E M Abdul Rahiman completed three years in jail along with at least 40 others.
The arrests followed the first nationwide crackdown by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on 22 September 2022. Forty-two Muslim men were taken into custody under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. Six days later, the Union government banned the PFI and several affiliates, including the Campus Front of India, All India Imams Council, National Women’s Front, and Rehab India Foundation, declaring them unlawful associations for five years.
The NIA accused the group of plotting to divide the country along communal lines and conspiring to establish an Islamic state. Several rights groups and Muslim organisations dismissed the claims as baseless and termed the ban unconstitutional.
Despite multiple chargesheets, none of the senior leaders have been convicted. Many remain behind bars, including 73-year-old Abubacker, who suffers from cancer and Parkinson’s disease. His family says his health has deteriorated sharply in custody.
Meanwhile, the Delhi High Court has reserved its order on a PFI petition challenging the government’s five-year ban. The Union maintains that the tribunal’s order confirming the ban cannot be reviewed under Article 226, while PFI lawyers argue the tribunal functions independently of the High Court.
