Delhi HC Rejects Shabir Ahmed Shah’s Bail Plea in NIA Case

NEW DELHI:
The Delhi High Court denied bail on Thursday to Kashmiri separatist leader Shabir Ahmad Shah. He is in judicial custody in a terror funding case lodged by the NIA in 2017.

The high court has dismissed his appeal. In 2023, the trial court had dismissed his earlier bail application. The division bench of Justices Navin Chawla and Shalinder Kaur dismissed the appeal.

The detailed order will be uploaded later in the day by the High Court. He had moved to the High Court against an order of a special NIA court denying bail.

It was submitted that there were 24 cases against him. In 18 cases, he has been charge-sheeted, three cases have been dismissed, and three cases are pending investigation.

Senior advocate Collin Gonsalves appeared for the petitioner Shah. He moved to the High Court in 2023.

The trial court dismissed his earlier bail plea on July 7, 2023. Earlier in 2023, a notice was issued to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

He has sought bail in a terror funding case lodged by the NIA in 2017 against various separatist leaders of Jammu and Kashmir

The counsel for the petitioner has submitted that it is a fresh bail application. He has been in custody since 2017, and the charge sheet has been filed against him.

It was submitted that the trial court judge erroneously declined to grant bail to the appellant herein by observing that, given the bar under Section 43D(5) of UAPA and there being a prima facie case established at the point of framing charges, the appellant could not be granted bail.

It was also submitted that the trial Court ignored the complete lack of material against the appellant, the prolonged period of custody undergone, and the fact that no criminality for the commission of the offence is assigned to the appellant. Not a single criminal act can be attributed to the appellant.

It was further submitted that the Appellant is a reputed political leader in Kashmir, having founded the Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party in 1998 with the objectives of seeking the cooperation of people from within and outside the state, inculcating brotherhood, friendship, and goodwill, cultivating religious tolerance, regional and ethnic cooperation, and interaction.

The plea said that the appellant finds no mention in the main chargesheet and the first supplementary chargesheet where all the aforementioned allegations have been stated, and the Investigation Agency has shown the offences that allegedly occurred due to the said conspiracy.

The Investigation agency has, in fact, gone on to show the interlinkage between the accused person’s charge sheet, where again the appellant finds no mention, the plea said.

The FIR that was registered owing to the alleged conspiracy and the investigation showing the execution of the conspiracy in the main chargesheet by the accused persons admittedly does not find mention of accused Shabir Shah or his connivance in such conspiracy or any interlinkage insofar as the conspiracy or execution of the conspiracy is concerned.

It is also submitted that the Appellant has only been included in the 2nd supplementary chargesheet and was arrested in pursuance of the same on 04.06.2019.

The plea has stated that the Appellant has been incarcerated for over 4 years in the present FIR and intermittently for 35 years in different prisons in Kashmir and the country apart from being under house arrest for a substantial period, without a single conviction or charge against him.

On May 30, 2017, NIA registered a case against 12 accused persons for alleged conspiracy to raise and collect funds for causing disruption by way of pelting stones, damaging public property, and thereby conspiring to wage war against the government of India.

The appellant was arrested on June 4, 2019. In October 4, 2019, a Second Supplementary chargesheet was filed, and the appellant was included as an accused along with others.

The allegations against the appellant included him playing a key role in building a separatist/militant movement in Jammu and Kashmir, inciting and instigating masses to shout slogans for secession of Jammu and Kashmir, paying tribute to family of slain terrorists, receiving money through hawala transactions, and raising funds through LOC trade which were used to fuel subversive and militant activities in Jammu and Kashmir.

It is alleged that on 26.02.2019, his house was searched and a lot of incriminating material, including documents and electronic items, was seized from his house. Since the formation of JKDFP, the accused Shabir Ahmad became the mouthpiece of Pak ISI, which had been handling him through his Pak/POK-based representative Mehmood Ahmed Sagar.

It is further alleged that the scrutiny of CDs recovered from his house has revealed numerous wherein accused Shabir Shah instances had made inflammatory speeches at several locations such as Kishtwar, Bhadarwa, Anantnag, Kargil, Poonch etc instigating the masses to shout slogans for secession of Jammu and Kashmir from the Union of India and created surcharged atmosphere against Government of India that people started pelting stones on the security forces.

Investigation has also revealed that the accused Shabir Shah was in touch with Pak/POK-based militant leadership, including Syed Salahuddin and Hafiz Mohd. Saeed and Iftikar Haidar Rana, the trial court had noted in the order of July 7, 2023.

It is further alleged that the accused Shabir Shah was duly supported by Pakistani agencies through the Hurriyat. Representatives such as Shafi Shair and Mehmood Sagar are based in Pakistan.