Mumbai: Special NIA court acquits Arshi Qureshi in youth indoctrination case

MUMBAI : Finding no evidence, special NIA court on Friday acquitted Arshi Qureshi, accused in a 2016 case of indoctrination of youth to join terror outfit Islamic State (IS).
Qureshi who worked for Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) founded by the controversial cleric Zakir Naik, and the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in its 2017 chargesheet said he had used his official position in IRF to influence the people to embrace Islam.
Qureshi was charged with “indoctrination of Ashfak Majeed and his associates to extreme Jihadi ideology” .
He was charged for terror offences under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
Special NIA court Judge A M Patil after the trial where defence counsel T W Pathan argued of complete lack of evidence pronounced the acquittal and said he had found no evidence to back the NIA case.
The court cleared Qureshi of all charges.
There were over 55 witnesses in the trial who deposed and eight prosecution witnesses were declared hostile.
Qureshi was the first alleged member of IRF to be charge sheeted in a terror case. Zakir Naik was not an accused in this case.
Following the FIR in 2016, the IRF was banned under UAPA as an organisation, said advocate Mohammed Ibrahim .
The NIA had made Qureshi and another absconding member as the accused. They were charged, tried and now acquitted under section 13 (unlawful acts) 18 (criminal conspiracy) and 38 (being associated with a terror outfit) of UAPA and criminal conspiracy under section 120B of Indian penal Code for indoctrination of youth to join the proscribed IS.
Qureshi was arrested in August 2016 following an FIR registered Nagpada police station by Ashfak’s father, Abdul Majeed, who alleged such indoctrination of his son after he went missing from his hometown Kasargod that month.