Delhi High Court rejects plea alleging organisations took money for Covid relief and used it for terror funding

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday refused to entertain a public interest litigation (PIL) petition seeking investigation into organisations that allegedly took huge sums of money as donation for Covid-19 relief and then laundered it to fund terror organisations like Jamat-e- Islami, Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, Lashkar-e-Taiba, AlKhidmat and Hamas..A Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Navin Chawla said that all the organisations named in the petition were based outside India and therefore beyond its jurisdiction. The judges said they are sure that the Government of India is alive to the issues raised in the petition and since the country has very good investigative and intelligence agencies, there is no need for the Court to intervene in the matter. "This is not something that government is not alive to. Why should we intervene in this matter? They will take it forward. We have very good investigative and intelligence agencies. These agencies will take action," Acting Chief justice Sanghi said. .We have very good investigative and intelligence agencies. These agencies will take action.Delhi High Court.The petition was filed by Mohammad Ashfaq Hussain, chairman of an organisation of Bareilvi-Sunnni Muslims named All India Tanzeem Ulama-e-Islam.The plea, filed through advocate Siddharth Acharya, argued that during the Covid crisis, several organisations used India's goodwill to collect crores of from donors. Though the money was collected on the grounds that it will used to help Indians, it was laundered and sent to coffers of terror organisations, the plea stated. The petition therefore sought constitution of a Special Investigating Team (SIT) to investigate the fund raising by various organisations and demanded that guidelines should be framed to regulate such donations. .However, the Court said that it is for a donor to check who they are donating to and if someone in India were taking funds which were then appropriated or siphoned off then that is breach of public trust and there are sufficient laws to deal with them. .The Court noted that the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has already sought details from the petitioner on the allegations made and therefore there is no reason for it to assume that the agencies are not alive to the issue. "There is no reason for this court to assume the Centre and agencies are not alive to this problem. We are of the view that no directions are called for in the petition in light of aforesaid development. Petition is disposed of," the bench noted in its order.