NEW DELHI: A person who comes in contact with a terrorist must share the information with security agencies, which will reflect their true and bona fide character, a Delhi court said on Thursday while convicting two persons in a terror case.
Additional sessions judge Prashant Sharma of the Patiala House Court made the observation while convicting Zahoor Ahmad Pir and Nazeer Ahmad Pir, both residents of the same village in Jammu and Kashmir, under Sections 18, 19, and 39 of the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
Another accused, Bahadur Ali, a Pakistani national and member of the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba, had earlier pleaded guilty before the court and was convicted in March 2021. He had been arrested from Jammu and Kashmir.
The two Pirs were accused of providing food and items of everyday use to Ali, when he infiltrated into Jammu and Kashmir across the Line of Control with two other terrorists in June 2016. The other two terrorists were killed by security forces. The two Pirs were also accused of being in constant touch with Ali.
Significantly, in an address at the United Nations General Assembly in 2016, then External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had mentioned Ali as “a living proof of cross-border terrorism from Pakistan”.
The sessions judge said, “Citizens giving aid to terrorists only give potency to terrorism. A person who comes in contact with a terrorist must approach and brief security agencies of the government, thereby sharing the information, for reflecting his/her true and bona fide character. Accused persons in this case, failed to appreciate the same and, therefore, landed up in this case.”
According to the charge sheet in the case, a conspiracy was hatched by Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba to commit terror attacks in the state and other parts of the country, including Delhi. While convicting the accused persons, the judge said that no theory suggesting innocence of accused persons was possible.
“All the circumstantial evidence led by prosecution indicated guilt of accused persons. There was no possibility of any theory suggesting innocence of accused persons. Therefore, I conclude that the prosecution was able to prove the charges leveled against the accused persons [Zahoor and Nazeer] beyond reasonable doubt,” the judge said.
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