J&K terror funding case: Delhi High Court rejects Masarat Alam, Shabir Shah pleas against order framing charge

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday rejected the appeals filed by Kashmiri separatist leaders Masarat Alam Bhat, Shabir Ahmed Shah, Nayeem Ahmad Khan, businessman Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali and others against the trial court order framing charges against them in a terror funding case under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA)..A Division Bench of Justices Vivek Chaudhary and Manoj Jain also rejected the appeals filed by Hizbul Mujahideen Chief Syed Salahuddin’s sons Shahid Yousuf and Syed Ahmad Shakeel. It held that that since the appeals were against the order on charge, they are not maintainable in view of Section 21 of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) Act. Section 21 of the NIA Act states that interlocutory orders of the Special NIA Court are not subject to appeal. The Court held that an order of the NIA court framing charges against the accused is an interlocutory order and any challenge against it is hit by the bar of Section 21 of the NIA Act. "An Order framing Charge, as against final order is an interlocutory order, as it does not decide any proceeding finally and the term "intermediate order" is a concept of revisional jurisdiction, which cannot be applied while interpreting the term "appeal" both on facts and law. A conjoint reading of Section 21, other sections and purpose of the NIA Act shows that the term "order" in Section 21(1) refers to a final order and not an interlocutory or intermediate order," the Court ruled. .The Special NIA Court had, in March 2022, charged the appellants for offences under the UAPA over allegations of funding terror. Special Judge Praveen Singh had said that the accused had the common object of secession and they were in close association to terrorist organisations under the “guiding hand and funding of Pakistani establishment”.Notably, in the same case, the Court had also charged Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) founder Hafiz Saeed and Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin as well as Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front Founder Yasin Malik. While Saeed and Salahuddin are stated to be in Pakistan, Malik pleaded guilty in the case and was awarded a life sentence. The NIA’s appeal seeking death penalty for him is pending before the Delhi High Court. .Today, in a common judgment, the High Court also rejected the appeals filed by several other persons in different terror cases. This includes Javed Ali, Alemla Jamir, Masasong Ao, Abdur Rehman, Md Waqar Lone, Rajkumar, Rouf Ahmad Bhat, Mateen Ahmad Bhat, Haris Nisar Langoo, Manan Dar, Hanan Gulzar Dar, Zamin Adil Bhat and Arsalan Feroze Ahenger. .Senior Advocates Nitya Ramakrishnan and Tanveer Ahmed Mir with Advocates Nitai Hinduja, Aditi Sarswat, Jawahar Raja, Warisha Farasat, Suvarna Swain, Stuti Rai, Rupali Samuel, Kamran Khwaja, Shariq J Reyaz, Anirudh Ramanth, Tamanna Pankaj, Aarif Ali, Chand Qureshi, Mujahid Ahmad, Mohd Tauheed, Md Imran Siddiqui, Mohd Faiz, Saima Anjum, MD Imran Ahmad, Anirudh Ramanathan, Priya Vats, Harsh Bora, Kartik Venu, R Jude Rohit, Sowjhanya Shankaran, Siddharth Satija, Akash Sachan, Anuka Bachawat and Charu Sinha appeared for the appellants in the cases. Senior Advocates Sidharth Luthra and Gautam Narayan, Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Akshai Malik with advocates advocates Khawar Saleem, Ayush Agarwal, Rahul Tyagi, Jatin, Amit Rohila, Ajay Singh Parmar, Shilpa Singh, Priyam Aggarwal, Asmita Singh, Disha Joshi, Ankita Malkhan, Shashank Jain, Avdesh Yadav, Lokesh Raghav, Rajesh Mahajan, Ranjeeb Kamal Bora and Surender Pal represented the NIA..[Read Judgement].Follow Bar and Bench channel on WhatsAppDownload the Bar and Bench Mobile app for instant access to the latest legal news.