NEW DELHI: In perhaps the country’s first COVID-19 case in custody, a Kashmiri woman who is accused of planning a terror attack in the country during anti-CAA protests, has tested positive for the infection while in the custody of National Investigation Agency (NIA).
A special court on Sunday, which heard the case through video-conferencing, directed NIA to immediately admit Hina Bashir Beigh to Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Hospital.
Beigh, her husband Jahanzaib Sami and Abdul Basith were arrested for allegedly promoting the Islamic State’s ideology and instigating protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. The accused were produced before the court as their 10-day custodial interrogation ended on Sunday.
The court sent Sami and Basith to jail after the agency did not seek their further remand for interrogation.
Soon after the development, Beigh’s lawyer MS Khan moved an interim bail application seeking relief of two months for his client for “better treatment” at a private hospital, citing the lack of facilities and pressure in government hospitals.
“Delhi is struggling to cope up with the rising number of coronavirus positive cases that have gone upto 27,000 as of now and due to lack of proper treatment facilities in government facilities…, the Delhi government has been compelled to issue a list of 56 private hospitals for corona treatment,” stated the bail application, which will probably be heard by the court next week.
In the plea, Khan also said that Beigh has no criminal record and there is no chance of her absconding or tampering with the case’s evidence. “Beigh has clean antecedents and roots in society. There is no chance of her absconding or tampering with the prosecution witnesses.”
On June 6, the accused were tested for coronavirus infection after the court’s direction for the same. While Sami and Basith tested negative for COVID-19, Hina was found positive for the infection, NIA told the court.
The couple, allegedly having links with Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP), was arrested by the special cell of Delhi Police on March 8 and later sent to judicial custody on March 23. Basith was already lodged in jail in another case being probed by the NIA when the Delhi Police arrested him in the present matter.
The case was later transferred to the NIA, which lodged a case on March 20 under sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 124-A (sedition) and 153-A (provocation for causing riot) of IPC and sections 13 (punishment for unlawful activities) and 20 (being member of terrorist gang or organisation) of stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
The agency then approached the special court seeking custodial interrogation of three accused, which was allowed for 10 days by the judge on May 20, with a direction to Tihar jail authorities to hand over their custody to NIA after conducting their COVID-19 tests.
The NIA finally took their remand on May 29 after the test results came out negative for all the three accused. According to NIA, the accused were following the ideology of ISIS and planning for a terror strike in India and also recruiting cadres for ISKP.
“In one audio message Abdul Basith said to Jahanzaib to motivate and prepare some guys who may be used for lone wolf attack and kill the people through a truck or lorry by running them over on people,” the Delhi Police had earlier said. The police had also alleged that the trio was in contact with Abu Ushman al Kashmiri, who is the head of Indian affairs of ISKP.