HC acquits RDF activists convicted in a case registered by NIA

The Bench acquitted the accused on the ground that prosecution failed to establish that RDF was a terrorist organisation

A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on Wednesday set aside the verdict of the Ernakulam Special Court for NIA cases sentencing five activists of Revolutionary Democratic Front (RDF) to three years of rigorous imprisonment in a case relating to a meeting of Maoist leaders in Mavelikara.

The NIA case against the activists was that they had conducted a secret meeting of the RDF, a frontal organisation of the proscribed CPI (Maoist) party, at a lodge in Mavelikara on December 29, 2012, with the intention of forming a student’s wing of RDF in the State.

The Bench acquitted the accused on the ground that prosecution had failed to establish that RDF was a terrorist organisation. The court pointed out that RDF was not enlisted as a terrorist organisation in the first schedule of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), though the CPI (Maoist) and its front organisations are banned by the Union government.

Those who were acquitted are first accused Rajesh Madhavan, second accused Gopal, third accused Devarajan, fourth accused Bahuleyan, and fifth accused Ajayakumar alias Ajayan alias Mannoor Ajayan.

Published - September 25, 2024 08:19 pm IST