The Delhi High Court has refused to grant bail to an alleged member of terrorist organization ISIS in a terrorism case registered by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for radicalizing youth through the internet.
A bench of Justices Pratibha M Singh and Amit Sharma rejected the bail plea of Mohammed Hedayatullah, who had allegedly used a Telegram group to propagate the ideology of the terrorist organization in India and recruit other persons to ISIS.
The accused had challenged the order of the subordinate court in which he was refused any relief. The accused had challenged the order on the grounds that merely being associated with or supporting a terrorist organization would not constitute an offense under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).
The court rejected this argument, saying that Hedayatullah, a qualified MBA graduate working in an IT company in Gurugram, was not a ‘passive’ supporter, as the material obtained showed that he ‘worked for the establishment of the Caliphate through violent means’. Also advocated ‘Jihad’.
“The Appellant admitted that in 2018 he had taken an oath (bay’ath) in the name of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and Abu al-Hassan al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi,” the court said in its ruling passed on January 10. Baghdadi is certainly a notorious leader of ISIS and as per the chargesheet he had announced the establishment of a ‘caliphate’ in June 2014.
