2014 terror case: 12 members of Indian Mujahideen module sentenced to life by Rajasthan court, one acquitted

A court in Jaipur on Tuesday awarded life imprisonment to 12 members of the terrorist organisation Indian Mujahideen (IM) and acquitted one person in a case dating back to 2014. The accused were arrested then by the Rajasthan ATS who got information about them from other security agencies.

The court of District and Sessions judge Jaipur metropolitan-I, Uma Shankar Vyas sentenced Waqar Azhar, Mohammed Sakib Ansari, Barkat Ali, Mohammed Maroof, Ashraf Ali Khan, Mohammed Ammar Yasar, Abdul Majid, Mohammed Wahid Gouri, Mohammed Umar, Mohammed Akib, Mohammed Waqar and Mohammed Sajjad to life imprisonment.

Theye were convicted under section 121 (waging, or attempting to wage war, or abetting waging of war, against the Government of India) of the IPC.

Another accused, Mashraf Iqbal was acquitted of all charges.

At the same time, the 12 were also convicted under various other laws including the Explosive Substances Act, The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and other sections of the IPC and were sentenced to prison terms ranging between one and ten years.

According to the court judgment, the arrests were made by the Rajasthan ATS in 2014 after IM operative and Pakistani terrorist Zia-ur-Rehman alias Waqas, told officials that members of the Rajasthan module of IM were given training in making bombs and were expected to play significant roles in terrorist attacks.

After the arrests, chemicals and explosives material used for manufacturing bombs were confiscated from them, said the court verdict.

The court said that the 12 convicted had committed offences that came under the category of waging war against the Indian Republic.

Mashraf Iqbal, who was acquitted, had brought a mobile SIM card from Jodhpur to Jaipur and had given it to Waqar Azhar. The court said in its judgment that the prosecution couldn’t produce any evidence to suggest that Iqbal knew beforehand that the SIM card would be used for criminal activities and was part of any criminal conspiracy.

All those sentenced to life range between 24 and 47 years and most of them are residents of Sikar, Jodhpur, Jaipur and Pali districts.