Mere Possession Of 'Jihadi Literature' Not An Offence Unless Material Shows Execution Of Philosophy To Commit Terrorist Acts: Delhi Court

Dealing with a case registered under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 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 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 execution of such philosophy so as to do terrorist acts. Such a proposition runs counter to the freedoms and rights guaranteed by Article 19 of the Constitution," said Principal District & Sessions Judge Dharmesh Sharma of Patiala House Courts. The court made the observation while framing charges against nine accused in a National Investigation Agency case related to online propagation of ISIS ideology. The accused in the case are from Kerala, Karnataka and Kashmir. The court framed charges against Mushab Anwar, Rhees Rasheed, Mundadiguttu Sadanananda Marla Deepthi, Mohd. Waqar Lone, Mizha Siddeeque, Shifa Haris, Obaid Hamid Matta and Ammar Abdul Rahiman under Sections 120B of the IPC read with Section 2 (o), 13, 38 and 39 of the UAPA. The court has discharged a 26-year-old Kashmiri youth Muzamil Hassan Bhat of all the charges in the case, saying there is no evidence that he ever professed himself to be a member of ISIS or that he did anything so as to further the activities of the banned organisation.The court said that there was prima facie case to frame charges against the other accused as they had accessed "highly provocative Jihadi material" and subscribed to ideology of the ISIS and were also deliberately, purposely and actively disseminating such material, seeking support from likeminded persons and "enticing gullible Muslim youths" to follow the path of the ISIS policies. "They were professing to be selfstyled module of Indian soldiers or operatives of the ISIS, and thus, making all efforts to further the cause of the banned organization," the court added. Another accused, Obaid Hamid Matta has been charged under Sections 2 (o) and 13 of the UAPA. "Merely because A8 (Obaid Hamid Matta) was accessing and reading certain hardcore Islamic literature, does not per se amounts to committing any offence. However, he was indulging in commission of unlawful activities and therefore committed offences u/s 2(o) read with section 13 of the UA(P) Act," the court said. While framing charges, the court said that the accused persons had been operating various social media platforms "as a toolkit" for spreading the ISIS ideology and thereby alluring, impressing and radicalising like-minded fellow persons to indulge in unlawful activities. "The aforesaid accused persons were professing, proclaiming or asseverate themselves not only to be members of the banned organization but also furthering the provocative, violent and divisive ideology of the banned outfit ISIS," the court said. Perusing the chargesheets filed by the NIA, the court observed that the extraction of data from the digital devices and social media account revealed that all the accused persons, except Muzamil Hassan Bhat who was discharged, were accessing Jihadi material from the internet. It added that the accused were also advocating and disseminating such ideology or philosophy of ISIS through their private and public social media accounts."There is prima facie substance in the prosecution case that the accused were disseminating inflammatory and provocative Jihadi material through various social media accounts, and thus, were attempting to pollute the minds of gullible Muslim youths to further the activities of the banned terrorists organization. To sum up, even a casual reading of the messages, chatting, dialogues, comments and the whole tone and tenor of the entire material extracted from the digital devices of the accused persons would show that there was deliberate attempt to cause disaffection against the country," the court said.On the aspect of terrorist act under UAPA, the court said that although the accused persons prima facie had committed offences under sections 2(o) and 13 of the UAPA, however there was no material to hold that any of them committed any terrorist act within the meaning section 15 of the Act. "No physical act has been attributed to them leading to commission of a terrorist act or any act or omission shown to be preparatory to doing of a "terrorist act"….," said the court. It was further observed that there was no material collected showing that any of the accused procured arms or ammunition or explosive substances or attempted to acquire the same or planned to commit any terrorist act so as to cause large scale disturbances or fear in the mind of the general public. "If the prosecution story is believed, some of the accused persons were...

Mere Possession Of 'Jihadi Literature' Not An Offence Unless Material Shows Execution Of Philosophy To Commit Terrorist Acts: Delhi Court

Nupur Thapliyal

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