The
Delhi High Court on Monday sought the stand of the National Investigation
Agency (NIA) on a plea by Kashmiri separatist leader Shabir Ahmad Shah seeking
bail in a terror funding case.
A
bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Anish Dayal issued notice to the NIA on
an appeal filed by the accused against a trial court order refusing to grant
him bail. It allowed time to the agency to place on record the relevant
documents
Senior
advocate Colin Golsalves sought bail on behalf of the appellant on the ground
that "it was a no material case".
In
his appeal assailing the trial court order rejecting his bail application, the
appellant said he has been in custody for four years and the trial would take a
long time to conclude.
"The
impugned order of the Learned Additional Sessions Judge is contrary to law
weight of evidence and probabilities of the case. The appellant has been
languishing in jail in the present case for four years, with over 400 witnesses
to be examined and only 15 witnesses having been examined till date in over
four years," the appeal said.
The
counsel for the NIA said he would file the relevant material before the bench.
In
2017, the NIA had registered a case against 12 persons for alleged conspiracy
to raise and collect funds for causing disruption by way of pelting stones,
damaging public property and conspiring to wage war against the government of
India.
Shah
was arrested in the matter on June 4, 2019.
In
March 2022, the trial court framed charges against the appellant under Sections
120B, 121, 121A IPC, 13 UAPA read with 120B IPC, 15 UAPA r/w 120B IPC, and
Sections 17, 18, 20 UAPA for allegedly conspiracy to raise and collect funds
for causing disruption and conspiring to wage war against the government of
India.
It
had rejected the appellant's bail plea on July 7.
The
matter would be heard next on September 12.