Rudresh murder: HC order on invoking terror law reserved

The High Court of Karnataka on Thursday reserved the judgement on a petition filed by a Popular Front of India (PFI) functionary against the invoking of stringent anti-terror provisions against him over the murder of RSS worker, R Rudresh.

Asim Shariff, the PFI’s Bengaluru district president, had moved the high court, contending that he has been “wrongly” booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, to aggravate the case by giving it a colour of terrorist act. Quoting the Supreme Court, he said that to invoke the Act, there had to be strong evidence of threat to national security concerning national peace and harmony. But in Rudresh’s murder there are no such ramifications, he said.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) justified the invoking of the Act, saying that the entire act of the accused in assaulting Rudresh was to “affect” the unity, integrity and security of the country. The call detail record of Shariff’s mobile phones showed that he made calls to various organisations beyond the boundaries of the state, which points to “a deep-rooted conspiracy.”