NEW DELHI: A Delhi court has convicted Kashmiri separatist leader Aasiya Andrabi and others for hatching a conspiracy for the secession of the Valley from India, by “creating a facade that Kashmir is not part of India and is under illegal Indian occupation”.
Additional Sessions Judge Chander Jit Singh said that court noted that videos submitted by the National Investigating Agency clearly showed that Andrabi, along with two associates Sofi Fehmeeda and Nahida Nasreen, repeatedly claimed that Kashmir belonged to Pakistan and was under the forced occupation of India.
“It is clear that the accused do not bear an allegiance to the Constitution of India and they do not believe in the Constitution of India, and are also not ready to uphold it and the sovereignty of India as they are seeking secession of an integral part of India,” the court said.
In a 286-page judgement passed on Wednesday, the judge convicted the three for various offences punishable under stringent UAPA, including conspiracy to commit crime against the State, and being members of a terrorist organisation. The court has posted the matter for January 17 for hearing arguments on the quantum of sentence.
“The accused did conspiracy with each other for the illegal act of secession of Kashmir from India. The material on record is rife with such speeches as well as various posts by all the accused especially of accused 1 (Andrabi),” the judge said. The judge added that in her speeches and interviews, Andrabi clearly advocated and sought support of Pakistan to claim and propagate that Kashmir was never a part of India.
The judge said it was clear that the accused were not merely stating that Kashmir was an unfinished agenda of partition rather the evidence “clearly spells out that this aspect is misused by accused persons to support, endorse and propagate that Kashmir is not part of India.”
The court also said that Andrabi’s organisation, ‘Dukhtaran-E-Millat’ (DeM), was involved in activities related to the secession of an integral part of India on the pretext of claim of ‘right to self determination’.