India
‘Insufficient evidence’: 3 life sentences under UAPA in terror case acquitted – Times of India
The division bench of Justices Sreenivas Harish Kumar and JM Khazi ruled that the prosecution’s evidence against the trio – Syed Abdul Rehman of Bengaluru, Afsar Pasha of Chintamani in Chikkaballapur and Mohd Fahad Khoya of Karachi – was insufficient to establish their complicity with the police to set. outfit in waging war against the state. A court had convicted the trio criminal conspiracy and waging war against the state under the UAPA & Explosive Act.
The court upheld Rehman’s conviction under the Arms Act and the Explosives Act for illegal possession of a firearm. The case arose from a tip-off allegedly received by Crime Branch Inspector KC Ashokan on May 7, 2012, about Rehman being introduced to LeT operatives through Pasha and Khoya, both of whom he met in Bengaluru jail after their arrest on various charges.
The prosecution linked all three to a conspiracy allegedly hatched by LeT to recruit Muslim youth for terrorist activities, including blasts in Bengaluru.
A court convicted the trio of criminal conspiracy and waging war against the state, for which they were sentenced to life in prison and an additional five to 10 years under the UAPA and the Explosive Substances Act.
The division bench hearing their appeal pointed out that the UAPA case had not been referred to an independent review authority as prescribed by law. “In view of this, the sanction order (to invoke UAPA) loses its sanctity, something which the court failed to consider,” the report said. The court also pointed out that “mere meetings” in prison between the trio and their phone records were insufficient to infer a conspiracy, and that the evidence did not support their conviction. It ordered the state government to deport Khoya to Pakistan.
