Delhi High Court On Shabir Shah Bail Plea: The Delhi High Court on Thursday declined to grant bail to Kashmiri separatist leader Shabir Ahmad Shah in connection with a terror funding case under investigation by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
A division bench comprising Justices Navin Chawla and Shalinder Kaur delivered the decision and upheld the trial court’s earlier ruling of 7 July 2023, which had denied bail to Shah.
“The present appeal is dismissed,” the bench said, while noting that a detailed order would follow.
Shah, who is presently in judicial custody, had approached the high court in August 2023 to contest the trial court’s denial of bail.
His legal counsel claimed that political motives drove the charges and that they lacked compelling evidence.
The NIA, however, firmly opposed Shah’s bail request, asserting that the allegations were grave and linked to a broader conspiracy to finance terrorist activities.
Terror funding probe and arrests
The NIA arrested Shabir Shah in June 2019 and sent him to Tihar Jail in a terror funding probe. It also booked separatist leaders like Yasin Malik, Nayeem Khan, and Shah for terror financing, inciting violence, and waging war against India.
Following the revocation of Article 370 on 5 August 2019, these leaders curbed from openly advocating secession or inciting unrest through public speeches and media commentary.
These separatist figures have long endorsed armed insurgency and often glorified terrorists killed in clashes with Indian security forces.
Terrorists frequently targeted or threatened individuals aligned with pro-India ideologies or linked to the security forces, while separatist leaders routinely praised attacks on the Jammu and Kashmir Police and Indian armed forces.
Separatist leaders also attended funerals of terrorists and used these gatherings to encourage impressionable youth to join terrorist organisations under the banner of so-called ‘Jehad’ (Holy War).
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