UAPA: Gauhati High Court grants bail to man booked for alleged Facebook posts praising Tehreek-e-Taliban

The Gauhati High Court recently granted bail to a man booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (UAPA) for allegedly glorifying and praising Tehreek-e-Taliban (Maqbool Alam v. State of Assam)..Justice Hitesh Kumar Sarma was hearing a bail application under Section 439 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) by one Maqbool Alam. .Alam had been booked for allegedly uploading Facebook posts praising and glorifying Tehreek-e-Taliban, which the Court noted was a terrorist organization that had engaged in a war to throw out the democratically elected government in Afghanistan and that had also targeted Indian citizens through violent means.The Tehreek-e-Taliban is a Pakistani offshoot of Taliban..Alam has been accused of offenses under Section 120(B) (punishment for criminal conspiracy), Section 153-A (promoting enmity), Section 298 (uttering, words etc., with deliberate intent to wound the religious feelings of any person), Section 505 (public mischief) of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, read with Section 66 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 and Section 39 of UAPA..The Court granted bail after noting that there was no requirement for further custodial detention in the case..The Court, therefore, directed the authorities to release the applicant on bail on furnishing bail bond of ₹ 10,000 with one suitable surety of the like amount, to the satisfaction of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Kamrup (Metro) at Guwahati..The Court added the following bail conditions:1) The applicant shall not leave the territorial jurisdiction of the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Kamrup (Metro) at Guwahati, without prior written permission from him;2) The applicant shall not hamper the investigation, or tamper with the evidence of the case;3) The applicant shall not, directly or indirectly, induce, threaten or promise any person acquainted with the facts of the case to dissuade him from disclosing any facts to the Court or to any police officer..Advocate F Khan appeared for the applicant. Additional Public Prosecutor SH Borah appeared for the State..[Read order]