The Delhi High Court has asked the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to respond to a petition by a Hyderabad youth, arrested for his alleged links to terror outfit ISIS, seeking his case to be transferred to the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) as he was a minor when he joined the terrorist organisation.
A Bench of Justice Siddharth Mridul and Justice Anup Jairam Bhambani gave the direction last week while hearing the petition filed by Abdul Qadeer challenging a January 29, 2021, decision of a Special NIA Court here rejecting his plea to transfer his case to the JJB.
Advocate Md. Mobin Akhtar, representing Qadeer, said that his client’s date of birth is November 25, 1999. He argued that since as per the charge framed, the conspiracy started on May 16, 2017, on which date Qadeer was a juvenile, his client is bound to be sent to the JJB for appropriate proceedings.
Before the Special NIA Court, the agency had submitted that Qadeer came into contact with another accused Abdullah Basith after watching Basith in a sting operation relayed on a news channel on May 16, 2017. After meeting Basith two-three times, Qadeer expressed his intention for doing ‘Hijrat’ and later got involved in the conspiracy to further the activities of ISIS in India, it said.
Qadeer was arrested on August 12, 2018.
The NIA has not disputed the date of birth of Qadeer but said that its case is based on a larger criminal conspiracy hatched by accused Basith, his associates and handlers based abroad to strengthen the activities of ISIS in India.
