Denying bail to an alleged terror associate booked on charges of providing food, shelter and other logistics to terrorists in J&K’s Kishtwar district, an NIA court said Tuesday that “if this yardstick’’ of delay in trial “is adopted, by and large, no person accused of committing the offence under the special enactment could be detained in prison after the expiry of certain specified period’’.

A bail application was filed by Tanvir Ahmed Malik of Doda district’s Tanta area. He was arrested by the NIA on March 1, 2021, on charges of providing food, shelter and logistics to Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists, Haroon Abbas Wani and Tahir Ahmed Bhat, at his home from June 2019 until Haroon Abbas Wani was killed in an encounter on January 15, 2020.

According to the application, the applicant has been in jail for five years and that a speedy trial is the fundamental right of the petitioner. However, Special Judge of the NIA Court, Prem Sagar, said that “trial is already underway as the charge was framed on March 3, 2022 and 30 witnesses are examined out of 101 cited by prosecution’’.

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On March 8, 2019, Haroon Abbas Wani and another terrorist Osama Bin Javed were allegedly involved in the snatching of an AK-47 rifle, three magazines and 90 rounds from a police head constable Daleep Singh, escort in-charge of Kishtwar Deputy Commissioner, according to NIA probe. That weapon was later recovered from the encounter site of Haroon Wani in January 2020, it said.

Tanvir Ahmed Malik’s alleged link with Haroon Wani and Tahir Ahmed Bhat surfaced during NIA investigation into the 2019 Kishtwar weapon-snatching. The agency’s probe found that one Rustam Qazi, an active member of banned Jamaat-e-Islami, had been a frequent visitor to Malik’s house.

According to the probe, Qazi was close to Malik’s father, also a member of Jamaat-e-Islami. The NIA said Malik joined the Al Huda Academy, Tanta in April 2019 as an Urdu/Arabic teacher and began providing shelters to Haroon Abbas Wani and Tahir Ahmed Bhat at his house as well as in an abandoned hideout (cave) near his house.

The judge pointed out that witnesses are being examined on the date fixed barring a few occasions. The judge observed that “material available on record indicates the involvement of the applicant in furtherance of conspiracy for unlawful activities which needs to be corroborated from other relevant witnesses yet to be examined. And in such a scenario, if the applicant is released on bail, there is every likelihood that he will influence the key witnesses of the case which might hamper the process of justice’’.

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“Arguments that delay will be caused in trial pertaining to offences as one involved in the instant case is not tenable in view of the catena of judgments and a ground to grant bail,” the judge said.

“If this yardstick is adopted, by and large, no person accused of committing the offence under the special enactment could be detained in prison after expiry of a certain specified period, ignoring the prima facie materials that are relied on by the prosecution,” the judge said. Keeping in view the nature and gravity of the offences and the larger interest of the State/UT, the court rejected the bail application.