On December 13th, the Madras High Court, while granting bail to Asif Mustahin, held that the targeted killing of Hindu leaders, despite being part of a conspiracy, does not qualify as an act of terrorism under section 15 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
Justices S S Sundar and Sunder Mohan of a division bench stated, “The evidence reveals that the plot was to target specific religious leaders, but the authorities have not clarified how this would qualify as a terrorist act, as outlined in section 15 of the UAPA.”
These remarks were made in connection with the bail plea filed by Asif Mustahin, who was arrested on July 26, 2022, under the UAPA by the National Investigation Agency on charges of purported involvement in criminal activities.
The accused had submitted bail requests that were turned down by the trial court, high court, and Supreme Court, resulting in his detention for the past 17 months.
According to the prosecution, the accused expressed a wish to join IS and established links with the second accused, linked to the global terrorist organization. Furthermore, it was alleged that the pair conspired to assassinate Hindu religious leaders affiliated with the BJP and RSS.
However, the High Court in its recent order emphasized that the evidence did not establish a clear connection to terrorist activities as defined by the UAPA, stating that an act must specifically intend to threaten India’s unity, integrity, security, economic security, sovereignty, or create terror among the people.
“To bring an act under section 15 of the UAPA, the act must be done with an intent to threaten or likely to threaten the unity, integrity, security, economic security or sovereignty of India, or with an intent to strike terror or likely to strike terror in the people or any section of the people in India or any foreign country.“, the court added.
The bench disagreed with the prosecution’s claim that the accused sought to join IS, highlighting the absence of evidence supporting such allegations, and provided conditional bail to Asif, directing him to reside in Erode and attend the trial court daily until further notice.
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