Kashmiri man among three sentenced by NIA court in Lucknow in 2021 fake case
Lucknow: A special court of India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) in Lucknow has sentenced a Kashmiri man along with two others in a fabricated case dating back to 2021.
According to Kashmir Media Service, those sentenced have been identified as Tawheed Ahmad Shah, a resident of Budgam district of Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, and Museeruddin and Minhaj Ahmad, both residents of Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh.
The NIA court awarded varying sentences ranging from five years of rigorous imprisonment to life imprisonment. The sentences will run concurrently, and each of the three has also been fined up to Rs 20,000.
Earlier, three other accused—Shakeel, Mohammad Mustaqeem and Mohammad Moid, all from Lucknow—had also been sentenced in the same case. The NIA filed charges against all six persons through two chargesheets in 2022.
In order to justify its case, the NIA alleged that the accused were involved in the 2021 radicalisation and recruitment network, allegedly aimed at carrying out attacks across multiple cities of Uttar Pradesh, including Lucknow, ahead of India’s Independence Day celebrations.
However, observers argue that such cases are frequently used by Indian authorities as a pretext to target Kashmiris and Indian Muslims, particularly those perceived as dissenting voices. The say the broader pattern reflects an attempt to instill fear and curb political and civil expression under the guise of security operations.
