Will Direct PFI to Deposit Compensation Sought by KSRTC With State Govt: Kerala HC

New Delhi: The Kerala high court on Thursday, September 29 directed the Popular Front of India (PFI) to deposit with the state government over Rs 5 crore compensation sought by the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) for the destruction of property due to a flash hartal called by the banned organisation on September 23.

"Flash hartals [or strikes called without following the protocol of giving seven days' clear public notice] in the state are not going to happen, irrespective of political parties. The life of citizens cannot be put to trouble. The message is loud and clear. If anyone does this, there will be consequences. Organisations can have demonstrations against any cause, the Constitution permits that but not flash hartals," the court said, as per a Bar and Bench report.

The transport authority has claimed that the hartal, which had turned violent, resulted in smashing of windscreens and damage to seats of 58 buses, injuries to 10 employees and one passenger.

It has further claimed in its plea that while it was already in a severe financial crisis, the repair cost of its buses and the reduction in service on September 23 due to the hartal has caused it an overall pecuniary loss of Rs 5.06 crore.

The court has said a claim commissioner has already been appointed and he will quantify the amount paid by the PFI in order to settle the claims, the report added.

The court also added, as per the report, that Abdul Sathar, state general secretary of the PFI, should be made a party in all the criminal cases registered across the state in connection with the offences committed during the flash hartal.

The high court on September 23 had initiated on its own a contempt of court case against the PFI and Sathar, who had called the state-wide hartal, and thereafter, allegedly absconded.

Also read: Anti-CAA, Hathras, Hijab Outrage: How the Heat Was Turned Up on PFI Recently

Over the last week, central probe agency teams, spearheaded by National Investigation Agency, had carried out raids at 93 locations across 15 states and arrested over 100 PFI leaders for allegedly supporting terror activities in the country.

Kerala, where the PFI has some strong pockets, had accounted for the maximum number of 22 arrests.

Thereafter, the Union government on September 28 banned the PFI and several of its associates for five years under the stringent anti-terror law, the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, accusing them of having “links” with global terror groups like ISIS.

Hours after the announcement, Sattar in a statement said, “As law-abiding citizens of the country, we accept the decision of the home ministry.”

He was arrested from Alappuzha in Kerala hours after he posted the statement on his Facebook account.

Meanwhile, several politicians in the opposition called for a similar ban on the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh – the ideological fountainhead of the BJP.

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