SC upholds bail of man accused of sympathising with ISIS

New Delhi, May 14 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to cancel the bail of a man booked under the stringent anti-terror law UAPA for allegedly sympathising with terror group ISIS.
     A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh upheld the Delhi High Court order granting bail to Ammar Abdul Rahiman and said he did not violate any of the bail conditions.
     The top court noted the accused was arrested on August 4, 2021 and the trial was yet to conclude.
     No instances were brought on record to show he violated the bail conditions, it added.
     "Prosecution proposes to examine more than 160 witnesses, out of whom 44 have been examined till now. Conclusion of the trial will take some reasonable time. Respondent was released on bail after spending about three years in custody as an undertrial," the court said.
     The top court observed the accused regularly appeared in the trial court and did not attempt to obstruct the ongoing trial.
     "We see no reason to cancel the bail granted to the respondent," the bench's order read.
     Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the NIA, said the accused was young and had no major role apart from being a sympathiser of the proscribed terror group ISIS.
     The accused, she said, cooperated in the investigation and regularly appeared in the trial court.
     Bhati, however, objected to the accused's plea to apply for the passport to travel abroad till the trial was pending.
     The bench restrained the accused from travelling abroad during the pendency of the case's trial and without court's prior permission.
     The high court on May 6 last year granted bail to the accused observing the material on record did not suggest commission of offences under Section 38 (offence relating to membership of a terrorist organisation) or 39 (offence relating to support given to a terrorist organisation) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
     The NIA alleged Rahiman was highly radicalised towards ISIS and allegedly entered into criminal conspiracy with known and unknown ISIS members for undertaking "Hijrah" (religious migration) to Jammu and Kashmir and other ISIS controlled territory to join the group for establishment of Caliphate and to carry out its activities in India.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)