The Supreme Court Friday refused to entertain the appeal of the National Investigation Agency against the grant of bail to 27-year-old Areeb Majeed, accused of having ISIS links, by a local Maharashtra court. The Bombay High Court, on February 23 this year, had upheld the order granting bail to Majeed.
A bench comprising Justices S Abdul Nazeer and AS Bopanna declined to interfere with orders of the courts below saying that stringent conditions have been imposed against the accused who will have to keep reporting to the police station. Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, appearing for the NIA, said that the accused has been facing terror charges and had returned from Syria to India to bomb police headquarters.
Earlier, the high court had upheld the lower court order granting bail to Majeed on the ground of pendency of trial and not on merits of the case. The high court had directed Majeed to furnish Rs one lakh as surety and also directed him not to leave Kalyan in neighbouring Thane district, where he resides.
The NIA's case was that Majeed had travelled to Syria to allegedly join the terrorist group ISIS and returned to India to carry out terror activities. Majeed was arrested in November 2014 under provisions of the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the Indian Penal Code for waging war against the nation and other charges.
He was granted bail in March last year by a special NIA court. The NIA subsequently approached the HC, challenging the lower court order. The high court had then granted an interim stay on operation of the bail granted, pending hearing of the NIA's appeal.
Hence, Majeed continued to remain in jail. While opposing the NIA's appeal, Majeed argued that he had gone to Syria only to help people and denied all charges levelled against him.
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