SC Grants NIA Three Weeks To Respond To Shabir Shah’s Bail Plea

The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted the National Investigation Agency (NIA) three weeks to file its response on the bail plea of Kashmiri separatist leader Shabir Ahmed Shah in a terror-funding case. The matter will now be heard on February 10.

Seeking additional time, the NIA told the apex court that new facts had emerged in the case and that it would file a detailed reply to Shah’s rejoinder affidavit. The court accepted the request.

Shabir Shah, 74, has sought bail, citing his advanced age and prolonged incarceration of over six-and-a-half years.

Representing Shah, senior advocate Colin Gonsalves argued that the case is based on a single speech that has been placed before the court multiple times. He contended that Shah has already spent a substantial period in custody and faces the risk of repeated arrests through successive FIRs.

NIA counsel Siddharth Luthra opposed Shah’s bail plea in court. He stated that the authorities arrested Shah in June 2019 while he was already in custody in an Enforcement Directorate case.

Luthra alleged that Shah and his associates funded street protests to paralyse the administration. He told the court that witnesses confirmed Shah recommended students for medical seats in Pakistan.

In Pakistan, the authorities reserve those medical seats specifically for Kashmiri students. Luthra informed the Bench that investigators have examined 34 witnesses so far out of a total of 248.

He added that the NIA examines four to five witnesses each month.

Countering the arguments, Gonsalves said Shah had quit the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) in 1996 and formed his own independent group. He argued that the allegations primarily pertain to the APHC and not Shah.

He questioned the trial’s slow pace, noting that investigators examined only 30 of 290 witnesses over eight years, supporting Shah’s bail.

Case Background

Shah has challenged the Delhi High Court’s June 12 order last year denying him bail. The NIA had earlier informed the Supreme Court that the recording of evidence in the case is currently underway.

He lauded the coordination among CAPFs, intelligence agencies, state authorities, and key ministries, calling it a model of tri-services synergy.

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