NEW DELHI, 22 December 2002 — Delhi court’s decision, dropping sedition charges against arrested leaders of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India, spells a major blow for the move initiated by Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani against the organization.
SIMI leaders Muhammad Javed Iqbal and Shahid Badar together with SIMI activists — Irfan Ahmed, Muhammad Khalid and Saif Nachan — were being tried in cases of sedition and unlawful activities. Several charges were dropped against them in the court of Additional Sessions Judge H.S. Sharma due to lack of evidence.
While Iqbal was discharged of sedition and unlawful activities charges, Badar and others were granted bail on a personal bond of 25,000 rupees each and sureties of the same amount.
Discharging Iqbal, the court said there was no material against him except his confessional statement.
Judge Sharma also dropped sedition charge against Badar in another case and granted bail on a personal bond of 5,000 rupees and one surety.
In one case, while sedition charges were dropped against Badar and the other SIMI activists, charges of promoting social disharmony under Section 153-A of the IPC and Unlawful Activities Act were retained. Under Section 153-A, charges against Muhammad Naiyer were retained whose printing press was used to print SIMI literature.
In another case, while the court dropped sedition charges against Badar, it retained those under Section 153-A and Section 505 (1) (b) and (c), relating to causing fear in the public and inducing a person to commit offenses against the state; and inciting one community against another.
The accused were granted bail after remaining in judicial custody for more than a year, following the center’s notification banning SIMI on Sept. 26, 2001.
When SIMI was banned, an intelligence official had claimed, “The IB has found material evidence linking SIMI with Osama Bin Laden. Some office bearers of SIMI had even threatened of serious consequences if a ban was imposed on the organization.” He also accused SIMI of having links with Pakistan-based terrorist groups operating in Kashmir.
Within a day of nationwide ban of SIMI, as many as 240 activists of the outfit were arrested in several states and their premises were sealed.
Following the ban, Union Home Secretary Kamal Pande claimed, “We have been examining SIMI’s activities over the past several months and gathered sufficient evidence of its links with other militant groups and pan-Islamic outfits. The ban is not confined to just one issue of it having links with Osama Bin Laden.”
Established on April 25, 1977, in Aligarh, SIMI began as a front organization for the Jamaat-e-Islami-Hind having students and youth below 30 years of age as its members. SIMI first hit the headlines last year when it organized protests against the burning of a copy of the Holy Qur’an by Hindu extremists in Delhi in March.
At the time of SIMI’s ban, Badar commented, “SIMI might be the government’s first target, but will certainly not be the last. Our madrasas are being looked upon with suspicion and Muslim youth harassed and arrested for no reason. If you keep quiet, it might soon be too late.”
SIMI’s ban also provoked community leaders to demand banning of extremist organizations associated with the Sangh Parivar, including the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Bajrang Dal and others.
Whatever be Sangh Parivar and Advani’s gameplan, the judicial move dropping charges against SIMI leaders, signals that they may not always have their way, at least judicially!
