Shuaib spent nearly 10 months in multiple prisons and was later released on bail. His bail was upheld even by the Supreme Court.
KOZHIKODE — The mother of Allan Shuaib, a young man from Kozhikode who is currently out on bail in a UAPA case, has alleged that the Kerala Police is harassing her son, even as the trial reaches its final stage in the NIA Court in Kochi.
Shuaib was arrested in 2019, when he was just 20, along with his friend Thwaha Fazal, both students of journalism and law respectively, under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for alleged links to the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist).
They were charged with supporting Maoist groups — banned organisations classified as terrorist entities.
Following prolonged incarceration, the two were granted bail. However, the Kerala High Court later cancelled Fazal’s bail, while Shuaib’s bail remains intact. The trial is currently in its concluding phase.
Speaking to reporters, Shuaib’s mother, Sabitha Sekhar, said the police are subjecting her son to continued harassment.
“My son has to stay in Kochi because the trial is ongoing, while we live in Kozhikode. The police are now putting pressure on people who offer him accommodation,” she said.
“They are trying to influence landlords and even circulating his photo on social media. This is unbearable,” Sabitha added.
Allan Shuaib himself has also alleged continued harassment by plainclothes police officers, claiming they are making it difficult for him to lead a normal life.
In a Facebook post, Shuaib accused the Kerala police under Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan of trying to isolate and mentally exhaust him by pressuring those around him to distance themselves.
“Plainclothes officers have been going to my rented room, my old residences, and friends’ rooms, warning them to be wary of me and branding me a troublemaker,” he wrote in the FB post. As a result, he says he has been evicted multiple times or faced social isolation from those around him.
“Pinarayi’s police are approaching this as if someone accused in a UAPA case should not be allowed to live here,” he added, while expressing confidence that officials would deny these allegations.
“This harassment and people keeping distance from me are now significantly affecting me mentally,” he stated, adding that the actions of the police are “not befitting of a democratic society”.
Shuaib warned in the post that if the current treatment continues, he may be forced to seek legal remedies or resort to public protest. “If the police intend to push me into a situation where I have no place to live, I will be compelled to pursue legal and protest routes,” he wrote.
Shuaib spent nearly 10 months in multiple prisons, including the Viyyur High-Security Prison in the case widely known as the ‘Pantheerankave UAPA case’. He was later released on bail. His bail was upheld even by the Supreme Court, which observed that mere association with a terrorist organisation does not automatically attract serious charges unless it is proven that the person intended to further its activities.
The arrest of the two youths had sparked a political controversy in 2019, especially after the CPI(M) leadership distanced itself from them, despite family members insisting they were party members.
The controversy deepened when Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan declared in the Assembly that both were Maoist activists.
The National Investigation Agency later took over the case, citing materials seized from the accused — such as books, pamphlets, placards, and diary entries — as evidence of their alleged Maoist links.
The issue had also resonated in the state Assembly, with the Congress-led UDF demanding that the Chief Minister approach Union Home Minister Amit Shah to seek the withdrawal of UAPA charges against the duo. — With inputs from IANS
