New Delhi: A Delhi court has observed that “mere possession of Jihadi literature having a particular religious philosophy” would not amount to an offence, unless there is material to show the execution of such philosophy to commit terrorist acts.“To hold that mere possession of Jihadi literature having a particular religious philosophy would amount to an offence, though such literature is not expressly or specifically banned under any provision of law, is not fathomable in law unless and until there is material about the execution of such philosophy so as to do terrorist acts,” principal district and sessions judge Dharmesh Sharma said in an order on October 31.“Such a proposition runs counter to the freedoms and rights guaranteed by Article 19 of the constitution. Even if they were impressed by the said philosophy and ideology, still they cannot be said to be members of the said organisation,” the order said.According to Bar and Bench, the court made these observations while framing charges against 11 persons who were accused by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in August 2021 of allegedly propagating ISIS ideology and recruiting new members.The accused were brought to trial under Sections 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 121A (waging war against the Government of India) of the Indian Penal Code and Sections 17 (raising funds for terrorist act), 18 (conspiracy), 18B (recruiting of any person for a terrorist act), 20 (being a member of a terrorist organisation), 38, 39 and 40 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).However, the court said that possessing Jihadi literature will not amount to an offence under section 20 of the UAPA.It further said that no prima facie case was made out to frame charges under section 121A of IPC and Sections 18, 18B, 17, and 40 of the UAPA, the report said.According to the Indian Express, the judge said that there is “no iota of material collected that any of the accused procured arms or ammunition or explosive substances or attempted to acquire the same, or for that planned to commit any terrorist act so as to cause large scale disturbances or fear in the mind of the general public”.“To sum up, there is no material whatsoever to hold that any of the accused persons were conspiring to wage war against the government of India. At the cost of repetition, there is no evidence that they collected any weapons, arms or ammunition or explosives or other harmful devices to prepare and/or plan any terrorist activities,” the order said.However, the judge said that there is material to prima facie substantiate the prosecution story that the accused persons “had a common agenda to propagate the ideology of ISIS through secret social media applications” and attempted to garner support of the like minded people by influencing, inciting and radicalising vulnerable Muslim youths to join ISIS “pursuant to a well planned criminal conspiracy”.Of the 11 accused, the court framed charges against nine persons: Mushab Anwar, Rhees Rasheed, Mundadiguttu Sadanananda, Marla Deepthi, Mohd Waqar Lone, Mizha Siddeeque, Shifa Haris, Obaid Hamid Matta, and Ammar Abdul Rahiman.The court order mentioned that one of the accused persons, Irshad Thekke Koleth, allegedly absconded to a foreign country.It also discharged one accused, Muzamil Hassan Bhat, of all charges, saying that he never professed to be a member of ISIS and that he did not do anything to further the activities of the organisation.Eight of them were framed under Section 120B of the IPC ( (criminal conspiracy) and Sections 2 (o) (unlawful activity), 13 (punishment for unlawful activities), 38 (offence relating to membership of a terrorist organisation) and 39 (offence relating to support given to a terrorist organisation) of the UAPA.The court ruled that Hamid Matta did not profess to be a member of the banned organisation but indulged in other unlawful activities. Therefore, it charged him under Sections 2(o) and 13 of the UAPA.
