On Monday, the Delhi High Court heard arguments in a petition filed by Kashmiri separatist leader Shabir Ahmed Shah.
In connection with a 2017 NIA case against him and other Jammu and Kashmir secessionist leaders for allegedly funding terrorism, he has applied for bail.
The Division Bench served the agency with a notice consisting of justices Siddharth Mridul and Anish Dayal. The case will be heard again on September 12.
Meanwhile, the bench has been ordered to submit the papers for record. A new bail application, according to the petitioner’s lawyer.
He’s been behind bars for six years now. The petitioner now faces the charges listed in the indictment. The trial judge denied his initial bail application on July 7. Shah’s bail application has been submitted.
It has been argued that the trial court judge erred when he refused bail to the appellant because a prima facie case had been established at the time of charge framing.
The appellant was barred from receiving bail under Section 43D(5) of UAPA. It is further argued that the Hon’ble Court did not consider the lack of evidence, the lengthy time the appellant spent in jail, or the fact that he was not found to have any criminal responsibility for the crime.
There is no single criminal act that the appellant is responsible for.
The appellant’s name cannot be linked to any illegal activity. It is also argued that the Appellant is a respected political leader in Kashmir, having established the Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party in 1998 with the goals of uniting people both inside and outside of the state, promoting religious tolerance, encouraging cooperation between different ethnic groups, and so on.
In the plea, the defendant claimed that even though all of the aforementioned claims have been noted and the Investigation Agency has demonstrated the offenses that allegedly occurred owing to the abovementioned conspiracy, the Appellant finds no reference to them in the main chargesheet or the first supplementary chargesheet.
According to the appeal, the Investigation agency has taken the lead in connecting the charge sheets of the accused individuals, where the appellant does not appear again.
Delhi HC issues notice to NIA on Shabir Ahmed Shah’s bail plea in terror funding case
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There is no mention of accused Shabir Shah or his connivance in such a conspiracy or any interlinkage in the FIR that was registered due to the alleged conspiracy and the investigation showing the execution of the conspiracy in the main chargesheet by the accused persons. The Appellant, it is said, was not arrested until June 4, 2019, and only because of the second additional chargesheet.
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Since July 26, 2017, the appellant has been detained.
The Appellant, however, has been detained in connection with a PMLA matter since July 26, 2017. The appeal claims that the Appellant has spent almost four years in prison due to the current FIR and another 35 years in various jails in Kashmir and the country and has been under house arrest for a considerable amount of time.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) filed charges against 12 individuals on May 30, 2017, alleging that they had plotted to gather and collect monies to disrupt public order by throwing stones and damaging public property to wage war against the government of India. The appellant was taken into custody on June 4, 2019. The appellant was named a defendant in a Second Supplemental chargesheet submitted on October 4, 2019.
The appellant was accused of aiding in the formation of a separatist/militant movement in Jammu and Kashmir, inciting and inciting masses to shout slogans for the secession of Jammu and Kashmir, honoring the families of dead terrorists, receiving funds through hawala transactions, and raising funds through LOC trade.
On February 26, 2019, police allegedly searched his home and took away numerous items that could be used as evidence. After being handled by his representative in Pakistan and the Pakistani-occupied Kashmir (Pak-POK), Mehmood Ahmed Sagar, accused Shabir Ahmad, has become the spokesperson of Pak ISI since the foundation of the JKDFP.
Examining the CDs found in his home allegedly revealed numerous instances where accused Shabir Shah had made inflammatory speeches at various locations like Kishtwar, Bhadarwa, Anantnag, Kargil, Poonch, etc.,
Inciting the masses to shout slogans for the secession of Jammu and Kashmir from the Union of India and creating such a charged atmosphere against the Government of India that people started pelting stones at the security forts.
The trial court noted in its ruling on July 7 that Shabir Shah was in contact with Pak/POK-based terrorist leadership such as Syed Salahuddin, Hafiz Mohd. Saeed, and Iftikar Haidar Rana. It is also claimed that Pakistani authorities backed the accused, Shabir Shah, through Hurriyat representatives like Shafi Shair and Mehmood Sagar in Pakistan.