Areeb Majeed, who is facing trial for allegedly travelling to Iraq and Syria to join the Islamic State in 2014, will face an additional section under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. On Friday, the court rejected his plea seeking that the charge under Section 17 UAPA not be invoked against him. The charge pertains to punishment for raising funds for a terrorist act, with a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. Last month, with the trial at the fag end, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) filed the fifth supplementary chargesheet against Majeed.

Majeed opposed the filing of the chargesheet stating the agency sought to frame an additional charge against him. However, the court took cognizance of the chargesheet noting the NIA only wanted to record a sanction order and electronic evidence, not frame the additional charge.

In the order on Friday, special judge C S Baviskar said that the prosecution cannot be denied the opportunity to establish the case against him and that framing the additional charge would cause no prejudice. The court said that Majeed would receive an opportunity to rebut the prosecution’s claim.

In May 2014, Majeed, who was 21 then, and three youths from Kalyan, near Mumbai, left India for Baghdad under the pretext of a pilgrimage and allegedly joined the banned terrorist group.