Kerala man charged under UAPA for justifying Pahalgam attack on social media
A 26-year-old man has been arrested under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) for allegedly posting comments on social media justifying the 2025 Pahalgam terror
A 26-year-old man has been arrested under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) for allegedly posting comments on social media justifying the 2025 Pahalgam terror attack, police officials said on Monday. The accused, identified as Muhammad Sanoof, a native of Aikkarappadi in Kerala's Malappuram district, was arrested on Sunday after arriving at Kozhikode's Karipur Airport from Saudi Arabia. He had been detained on the basis of a lookout circular issued against him. Read Full Story Officials at Muttam Police Station said UAPA provisions were invoked after investigators questioned Sanoof and examined his mobile phone.
The case stems from comments allegedly posted by Sanoof under a social media post by the daughter of N Ramachandran, one of the victims of the April 22, 2025 terror attack in Pahalgam. Police alleged that the comments justified the attack, which killed 25 tourists and one local. The FIR was registered following a complaint filed by a leader of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM). Besides UAPA, Sanoof has also been booked for promoting enmity between different religious groups.
He has been remanded to judicial custody. Police said they would seek his custodial interrogation, adding that the investigation could later be transferred to either the Crime Branch or the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS). BJP REACTS TO ARREST Reacting to the arrest, BJP Kerala president Rajeev Chandrasekhar questioned how "a young Malayali gets brainwashed into celebrating the brutal, cold-blooded murder of a fellow Keralite in
the Pahalgam terror attack." Calling the arrest a "wake-up call", Chandrasekhar alleged that the incident was not an isolated case but the result of "years of appeasement, radicalisation and Congress-CPI(M)'s political hypocrisy." He further said Kerala's future lay in "deeper integration with India's growth story" and called for an end to what he termed "dangerous politics" in favour of the "politics of performance." Ends
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