Overview

• The Supreme Court granted bail to Abdul Sathar, former Secretary General of the banned Popular Front of India, in the case linked to the 2022 murder of RSS worker Srinivasan in Kerala.
• The court emphasized that preventive detention based solely on ideological grounds violates due process and fair trial norms.
• Justices Abhay S. Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan noted that no direct role was attributed to Sathar in the murder conspiracy, despite NIA allegations of his broader involvement in PFI activities.
• The NIA argued that Sathar facilitated recruitment and arms training for the PFI and cited 71 prior cases against him, though many were related to protests and hartals.
• The ruling follows earlier Kerala High Court decisions granting bail to most accused in the case while denying it to Sathar and eight others in June 2024.