The plan to disrupt Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Phulwari Sharif in Patna in July 2022 was one of the main cases cited for extending ban on the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) for five years, under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), 1967. Ten states have sought a ban on SIMI for their involvement in unlawful activities, according to the home ministry’s order issued on Monday. A judicial tribunal will now be set up under UAPA to examine the proposed ban, officials said.
The case pertaining to PM’s visit to Phulwari Sharif is being investigated by the National Investigation Agency, which arrested Athar Parvej and Mohd Jalaluddin, and charge sheeted them under various provisions of UAPA. Another lead case cited by MHA was against Saquib Nachan, former national general secretary of SIMI. “He was the main conspirator in radicalising Muslims for violent Jihad or Hijarat. He gave ‘pledge and allegiance’ to IS to youths. He is alleged to have established ‘Al Sham’ like area in Padga village, near Borivali, where sharia law is followed,” the order noted.

In 2019, a member of the banned group, Alim, was involved in an attack wherein stones were pelted from the top of Jama Masjid at a rally of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) in August. The state police from Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala further provided details of conviction against more than two dozen SIMI cadres.

Described as a militant organisation, SIMI was first declared an outlawed outfit in 2001. Since then, it has been banned under the relevant law. The last time it was declared a banned outfit was under the NDA government on January 30, 2019, for a period of five years. The SIMI was established on April 25, 1977, in Uttar Pradesh’s Aligarh, and the organisation allegedly works on the agenda of liberating India by converting it into an Islamic country.