SC Upholds Bail of Youth who Joined ISIS, Dismisses NIA’s Appeal Against It

The Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain an appeal filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) against upholding bail granted to a Mumbai youth Areeb Majeed, who was among the first to join the Islamic State (ISIS) from India and is currently facing trial under UAPA following his return from Syria, reported LiveLaw.

A division bench comprising S Abdul Nazeer and AS Bopanna observed that the Bombay High Court had detailed the reasons for its decision and had imposed stringent conditions.

Following his return, Majeed is facing trial in a case registered by the NIA under the anti-terror law UAPA and Section 125 IPC (waging war against Asiatic power in alliance with India).

The Kerala High Court had in 2018 observed that supporting the ideology of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) will not amount to waging war against the Government of an Asiatic power in alliance with India. “Supporting an ideology of a banned organization of course is different from waging a war or attempting to wage a war or abetting to wage a war”.

Majeed was granted bail by the Special Court on March 17, 2020, on grounds of prolonged incarceration of six years and the slow pace of the trial to uphold his bail. The court had also rejected the Special NIA Court’s findings. 

In the hearing before the Supreme Court today, Additional Solicitor General SV Raju submitted that Majeed had returned to India to bomb the police headquarters.

But the bench pointed out that stringent conditions have already been imposed. “Read the conditions for bail! He has to stay with family at Kalyan, give sureties, give his residential address, report to incharge etc”, the bench said.

Majeed consistently claimed he was brought back with the help of NIA and the Indian Consulate in Istanbul, arguing that the prosecution has only been alleging he committed terror acts without proof.

Majeed left for Iraq as a 21-year-old along with three other young men on May 24, 2014, and was the only one to return to India six months later, on November 28, 2014. He was arrested on arrival by the state’s Anti-Terrorism Squad and subsequently handed over to the NIA.

A UN report estimated a total of 15,000 fighters from over 80 countries were in ISIS’s ranks in November 2014. In June 2014, the group proclaimed itself a worldwide caliphate and began being referred to as the Islamic State. As a caliphate, it claimed religious, political, and military authority over all Muslims worldwide. By December 2015, it held an area extending from western Iraq to eastern Syria, containing an estimated eight to twelve million people.