Chennai : The Madras High Court has recently dismissed a Public Interesting Litigation seeking ban on the Popular Front of India observing that it cannot decide which organisations should be banned and which organisations might continue.
Petitioner K Gopinath had approached the High Court after sending representations to the Centre and State Government seeking ban on PFI but getting no response from there. According to LiveLaw.in, the petitioner had alleged that Popular Front is an extremist and militant Islamic fundamentalist organization and thus it should be banned. He approached the High Court seeking a direction to the authorities to consider his demand.
Refusing to entertain his plea, the bench of the Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice PT Asha observed in their order on last Friday (8th June): “It is not for this Court to decide which organisations should be banned and which organisations might continue. That is in the realm of the Executive powers of the State.”
Popular Front a registered NGO which is active in 17 states and it has been strongly raising the issues of human rights violations of Muslims and other backward communities in different parts of the country. It is working actively to ensure justice to the victims of cow lynching in the BJP-ruled Jharkhand. In February this year, the state government imposed a ban on it.
For the past couple of years, the BJP government at center has been hinting to impose a ban on the organization whose political wing Social Democratic Party of India has been active in local elections in various states including Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala and West Bengal and won dozens of municipal seats. Recently it fought elections in three assembly seats in Karnataka where its candidates finished in second or third place.