The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has argued against the bail request of the Kashmiri separatist leader Shabir Ahmed Shah in the Supreme Court by claiming that he had served 38 years of his life in prison and this was false and misleading. According to the agency, Shah, who has been charged with funding a terror case, has served in fact more than eight years in custody in approximately 40 criminal cases.
The NIA, in its affidavit, dated Friday, explained that since his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate in July 2017, Shah had been in custody in the Tihar Jail in Delhi. With reference to the information that was provided by the Jammu and Kashmir Police, the agency observed that out of the 38 cases of crimes that had been registered against him, Shah had only been arrested on 10 occasions and his total time in jail was only 83 days before his arrest in 2017. The claim of the petitioner that he has spent 38 years in custody is not true. The affidavit said, It is an effort to mislead the court made with bad intent.
This case was heard by a Supreme Court bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta who gave time to the counsel of Shah to reply to the affidavit presented by the NIA. Senior advocate Colin Gonsalves who defended Shah with advocate Satya Mitra, claimed that Shah had been unjustly kept in prison all through decades just because he gave a speech and that he was very ill, and had to be placed on medical bonds. The case has been set to be heard further on November 10.
In a case brought against Shah by the NIA, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta informed the court that the charges brought against Shah are serious, citing his speech, in which he had allegedly drawn the distinction between the Indian state and Jammu and Kashmir. Mehta argued that the Delhi High Court had not wrongly refused Shah bail in June based on the fact that he may continue with other illegal activities or intimidate witnesses.
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