Roots of terrorism complex, no religion inherently supports violence: Madhya Pradesh High Court

Religious terrorism is a tragic and dangerous phenomenon that distorts the true teachings of faith and causes immense harm to individuals and societies, the Madhya Pradesh High Court said recently..A Division Bench of Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice Anuradha Shukla, however, stressed that while roots of religious terrorism are deep and complex, no religion inherently supports violence or terror.It made these observations while denying bail to an accused in a case related to recovery of incriminating literature related to the ideology of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). The accused also allegedly propagated the radical ideology of ISIS. “This Court cannot express undue leniency to a person who is facing serious charge of terrorism and unlawful activities. The trial is also set at full motion and there is every possibility of trial being completed in its due course. Therefore, considering the overall facts and circumstances, at this stage, we are not inclined to grant bail to the appellant,” the Court ordered..Considering that provisions of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) have been invoked against the accused, the Court explained that there are two conditions for bail in such cases,If the court is satisfied that the entire material collected by the investigation agency does not constitute prima facie case against the accused person.A timely trial would not be possible and the accused has suffered incarceration for a significant period, amounting to violation of his fundamental rights..In the present case, the Court noted that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) recovered various incriminating videos, audios, images and documents related to ISIS from the accused.“Other literatures relating to Jihad, promoting for ISIS, military training of Jihad are found. The NIA also got analysed the phone of present appellant wherein it is found that the present appellant was sharing photographs related to ISIS, obscene photographs of Hindu Deities etc. He used an application namely “permadelete” to delete the data from his phone regularly. Digital analysis further revealed that present appellant and co-accused Mohd. Adil Khan were discussing about ISIS in code words.”.The Court, thus, concluded that there was sufficient material to show that the accused actively participated in and committed unlawful activities as defined in the UAPAIt also took note of the allegation that the accused wanted to attack Ordnance Factory in Jabalpur.“The material collected by the NIA shows that the present appellant was the active member of conspiracy by which, the accused persons were going to attack upon Ordnance Factory, Jabalpur, which is an entity of defence. We find sufficient material to show that there was conspiracy to commit a terrorist act to which the appellant was a party,” it said..Senior Advocate Manish Datt with Advocate Satyam Rai represented the accused.Advocates Deepesh Joshi and Qasim Ali represented the NIA.[Read Judgment].Follow Bar and Bench channel on WhatsAppDownload the Bar and Bench Mobile app for instant access to the latest legal news.