Didn’t find material to ban Sanatan Sanstha, Centre tells HC

The Centre on Wednesday told the Bombay high court that it has not found any ‘material’ that warranted banning the right-wing group, Sanatan Sanstha, or declaring it a “terror outfit under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA)”.

The submissions were made before a bench of justices NH Patil and PD Naik, while the bench was hearing a petition seeking a ban on Sanatan Sanstha.

The plea claims following a bunch of reports submitted by the Maharashtra anti-terrorism squad, the Maharashtra government in 2012 sent a proposal to the Centre recommending the organisation be banned. However, the Centre failed to take a decision on it, the plea said.

The state claimed it had informed the home ministry that three cases of bomb blast were registered against Sanstha activists and that it would be up to the Centre to independently investigate and assess whether the outfit can be declared a terrorist organisation.

On Wednesday however, the Centre told the court that it had verified the Maharashtra government’s proposal and it was “not satisfied with the material submitted”.

The bench directed the Centre to submit copies of all its past correspondence on Sanatan Sanstha with the Maharashtra government. “Show us the communication between the union and state government. All this cannot be orally stated. Submit before us all letters sent and received by the union and state government within four weeks,” the bench said.

The HC is likely to take up the matter for further hearing after four weeks from now.