SRINAGAR: A Delhi court on Tuesday sentenced Kashmiri separatist leader and Dukhtaran-e-Millat chief Asiya Andrabi, who is lodged in Delhi’s Tihar Jail, to life imprisonment following her conviction in an Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) case.
Additional Sessions Judge Chander Jit Singh pronounced the sentence after concluding arguments on the quantum of punishment.
Two of Andrabi’s close associates, Sofi Fehmeeda and Nahida Nasreen, were awarded 30 years’ imprisonment after being convicted in the same case.
On January 14, the court had convicted Andrabi, Fehmeeda and Nasreen under Sections 20 (punishment for being a member of a terrorist gang or terrorist organisation), 38 (offence relating to membership of a terrorist organisation) and 39 (supporting a terrorist organisation) of the UAPA.
Following Andrabi’s conviction, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) had sought life imprisonment for her for using social media and public gatherings to promote the secession of Jammu and Kashmir and for colluding with Pakistan-based entities, including Hafiz Saeed of Lashkar-e-Taiba, to wage war against India.
The Dukhtaran-e-Millat (DeM) chief, along with her two associates, was arrested by the NIA in 2018 during a crackdown on separatists in a terror funding case.
She has been lodged in Delhi’s Tihar Jail since then.
Andrabi founded the all-women outfit Dukhtaran-e-Millat in Kashmir in 1987. After the eruption of militancy, the DeM propagated separatist ideology and actively campaigned for the wearing of burqa by women, implementation of Islamic sharia, and opposition to Valentine’s Day celebrations in the Valley.
During the years of militancy, the DeM became a hardline separatist outfit and supported the late separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani.
The DeM was banned by the Centre in 2004 under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.
Andrabi’s husband, Ashiq Hussain Faktoo alias Dr Qasim, is also serving a life sentence.
He was arrested in February 1993 for his alleged involvement in the 1992 killing of human rights activist Hriday Nath Wanchoo.
In 2003, Faktoo was sentenced to life imprisonment by a court for his involvement in Wanchoo’s murder in 1992.