Kochi: A special court here Wednesday granted bail to two students, arrested in November last year. The two students were arrested under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) for their alleged Maoist links.
The special NIA court however, granted bail with stringent conditions to Thaha Fazal and Allan Shuhaib. It directed them to appear before their respective police stations on the first Saturday of every month. The two students were also asked to surrender their passports. They were asked not to get in touch with Maoist outfits.
“The petitioners shall not indulge in any criminal activities while on bail. They shall not in any manner associate with or support the banned CPI(Maoist) and all its formations,” the court said.
The court also directed the students to offer close relatives as sureties besides executing bail bonds for Rs 1,00,000 each.
“One of the sureties of each petitioner shall be parent of the respective petitioner and the other surety shall be a near relative of the respective petitioner,” the court said in its order.
The two accused have been in judicial remand since November last year. The court, while granting bail, observed that the petitioners do not have any influential background and they belong to middle class families. “I don’t find any danger of justice being thwarted by granting bail to the petitioners,” it said.
The court noted that the petitioners are budding youngsters. “It appears that they used to be proactive on each and every contentious social and political issues. Such persons will be more prone to extremist ideologies. Probably that may be the reason for the petitioners to come in contact with the banned organisation,” the court observed.
“Petitioners are young men with a possibility of reforming themselves. Therefore, to some extent the court has to be lenient to them on the question of granting bail. But there is a clear message. The chance given for reformation shall not be mistaken as an opportunity to fasten their bond with the banned terrorist organisation and to be part of it,” the court added.
Fazal and Shuhaib, who are students of Journalism and Law respectively and CPI(M)’s branch committee members, were arrested November 2 last year from Kozhikode, causing widespread criticism in the Left-ruled state. The CPI(M) in Kerala had expelled them from the party following their alleged link with Maoists.