Kozhikode: Muslim Students Federation (MSF) leader Muhammad Khasim PK, targeted by a ‘kafir’ communal message falsely attributed to him during the Vadakara Lok Sabha elections, has again taken the Kerala Police to court for delaying the probe.

On Friday, November 8, Vadakara First Class Court Judge Sheeja AM ordered the Vadakara police to submit the investigation report and updates on the forensic examination of mobile phones related to the circulation of fake screenshots.

The judge asked the police to submit these reports by November 22, when Khasim’s petition will be heard again, said Advocate Mohammed Shah, counsel representing Khasim.

The Congress and the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), the parent organization of MSF, decided to go to the root of the kafir screenshot after the CPM used the fake message to accuse the UDF of running a communal campaign in Vadakara.

Muslim League State Secretary Parakkal Abdulla, who is leading the legal battle in the Kafir case, said that since the beginning of this highly sensitive case, the investigating officers have taken a stand to protect the real culprits. “This forced Khasim to approach the High Court and fight a legal battle to prove his innocence,” he said.

On May 31, Khasim approached the High Court seeking a direction to the police to conduct a proper investigation. After hearing the petition for three months and asking for a status report from the police several times, the High Court dismissed the case on September 9.

But Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas ordered the Vadakara police to speed up forensic tests on the mobile phones to trace the origin of the message and quickly wrap up the investigation. Justice Thomas, while closing the petition, said Khasim can approach the Vadakara court at any time if he feels the investigation is going off course or if there are lapses in police efforts.

“Two months after the high court’s order, the police have not made any progress in the investigation,” Khasim said. It has been six months since the screenshot hit Vadakara, yet the investigation team has neither filed a charge sheet nor listed charges in the case.

Police reportedly hit a roadblock after they found that DFYI’s Vadakara Block Committee President Ribesh RS was one of the first people to share the fake screenshot.

However, Ribesh, who is also a school teacher, told the police that he could not reveal the source of the screenshot. The police confiscated his mobile phone for a forensic test. “It has been two months since the police informed the court that the phones have been sent for forensic testing. There is no report, although the original deadline was two weeks,” Abdulla said.

He said police had testified before the High Court that they could find no evidence linking Khasim to the screenshot. “But the police don’t even have the decency to withdraw the FIR filed against him,” he said.

The police had arrested him under strict Section 153 A of the IPC for allegedly promoting enmity between different religious groups based on a complaint filed by a CPM leader.

Instead, the police did not name any person in the complaint filed by the UDF and invoked Section 468 (forgery for cheating) and Section 471 (using a false document as genuine) of the IPC only after the intervention of the High Court.