NEW DELHI: A Delhi court has discharged two persons accused of conspiring to revive the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and Indian Mujahideen (IM), noting that the prosecution failed to make a prima facie case against them.
Additional Sessions Judge Amit Bansal granted the relief to Abdul Subhan Qureshi and Ariz Khan while hearing a case registered under Sections 18 and 20 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and Section 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC.
In an order passed on December 20, the court noted that the chargesheet largely relied on disclosure and confessional statements allegedly made by the accused while in police custody, which, the judge said, were inadmissible in evidence in the absence of any recovery or discovery of facts.
“There is absolutely no admissible material on record in the chargesheet to show or raise a grave suspicion against both the accused persons that they entered into a conspiracy to revive activity of banned terrorist organisations SIMI and IM in India or that they were members of the said banned terrorist organisations,” the court sharply observed. It added that there was insufficient material to frame charges.
According to the prosecution, the two men were senior cadres of SIMI and IM and part of an international conspiracy to rejuvenate sleeper cells in India. The case stemmed from intelligence gathered following a blast in Bijnor in 2014, police said. Both were arrested after intelligence agencies informed that 5-6 members of SIMI and Indian Mujahideen were organising meetings out of country in Pakistan, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and UAE, to revive its cadres in India again.
However, the court observed that the mere existence of other criminal cases or chargesheets against the accused could not, by itself, justify framing charges.