Pleas of Masarat Alam, Shabbir Shah, others dismissed in fake case
New Delhi:The Delhi High Court has dismissed appeals filed by All Parties Hurriyat Conference Chairman Masarat Alam Butt, senior Hurriyat leader Shabbir Ahmed Shah and several other Kashmiri leaders, challenging the trial court order in which they were charged in a fake case under the black law of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
According to Kashmir Media Service, a division bench comprising Justices Vivek Chaudhary and Manoj Jain said that the appeals are not maintainable under Section 21 of the National Investigation Agency Act. The detailed verdict is yet to come.
Besides Masarat Alam and Shabbir Shah, the High Court also dismissed similar petitions filed by Hurriyat leader Nayeem Ahmed Khan, prominent businessman Zahoor Ahmed Watali and Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin’s sons, Syed Shahid Yousuf and Syed Shakeel Yousuf.
These appeals were filed against the March 2022 verdict of a special NIA court in which they were indicted under the black law “Unlawful Activities Prevention Act” (UAPA). Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Muhammad Saeed and Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin and Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front chief Muhammad Yasin Malik have also been charged in a same fake case.
Earlier, Yasin Malik was convicted in a false case and sentenced to life imprisonment, while the NIA’s application to convert his sentence to death is pending in the Delhi High Court.
