Indian police arrested a member of a
banned Muslim group in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh today for allegedly distributing "objectionable literature", a report said.
Noman Badra, from the Students' Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), was arrested while giving out material to other activists, a senior police official told the Press Trust of India(PTI).
SIMI was banned in September last year amid allegations that some of its leaders had close links with Islamic separatist guerrilla groups fighting Indian rule in Kashmir, such as the Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hizbul Mujahedin.
The government also alleged that SIMI had links with Osama bin Laden's terrorist al-Qaida network.
SIMI, founded in 1977 with the aim of ushering in an "Islamic revolution" in India, has denied having any links with al-Qaida or militant organisations in Kashmir.
AFP