New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday refused to stay the bail granted to Kashmiri activist Khuram Parvez and journalist Irfan Mehraj in a 2020 case registered under the anti-terror law UAPA.
The counsel for the National Investigation Agency (NIA) sought a stay on the trial court’s bail order, passed on July 18, on the grounds that the case pertained to serious offences and that the relief given to the two accused persons was “bereft of any reasoning”.
The NIA counsel also argued that the bail order would have a “chilling effect” and “create a problem” by being cited as a precedent in other cases.
A bench of Justices Prathiba M Singh and Vikas Mahajan said that at the prima facie stage, notice was liable to be issued on the NIA’s appeals against the trial court’s order as the lower court had failed to consider the bail pleas by the two accused persons as per the requirements under 43D(5) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
The trial court is not a constitutional court and has to go strictly by the statute, and the absence of any findings with respect to the non-existence of a prima facie case against the accused required consideration, it added.
However, declining to interfere with the bail, the court imposed additional conditions on the two accused persons and clarified that the order would not be treated as a precedent.
“These conditions are okay. Anything you find is not right, you can move the court,” the bench told the NIA counsel.
Listing the NIA’s appeals for hearing in August, the court asked Parvez and Mehraj to appear before the investigating officer twice a week and not interact with any person named in the chargesheet or indulge in similar activities.
In the bail order, the trial court had asked the two accused not to move outside Delhi and to surrender their passports.
The NIA counsel sought a stay on the bail order, stating that their release would be contrary to national interest.
The case pertains to the alleged involvement of some Kashmir-based NGOs, Trusts and societies in the funding of terror-related activities.
Parvez was the programme coordinator of Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS), which is accused of funding terror activities and propagating a secessionist agenda in the Valley under the garb of protection of human rights.
The NIA lawyer said as per section 43(D) of the UAPA, for granting bail, the trial court has to come to a conclusion that the allegations against an accused are prima facie not true, which was not done in the present case.
He said the trial court simply proceeded on the basis that the trial was at an early stage and the allegations were based on oral testimony.
The senior lawyers appearing for Parvez and Mehraj said bail orders cannot be interfered with unless they are manifestly perverse.
The court was also told the high court recently granted bail to Parvez in another case under the anti-terror law.
Both the accused persons were arrested in March 2023.
On June 10, the high court had granted bail to Parvez in another UAPA case, taking note of his over four-year incarceration in the case and the unlikelihood of the trial concluding soon.
It had held that the activist’s rights under Article 21 of the Constitution trumped the restriction on bail under UAPA.
