The Bombay High Court on Tuesday upheld a special court order granting bail to 27-year-old Areeb Majid. Majeed is accused of having links with ISIS. The petition filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) was dismissed by a division bench of Justice SS Shinde and Justice Manish Pitale, challenging the decision to grant bail to ISIS member Majeed.
In March last year, a special NIA court granted bail to Majid, the trial was significantly delayed and at the same time the prosecution was unable to prove anything against the accused. If the accused is found guilty after a fair and quick trial and a lengthy trial, the court is of the view that the time he spent as a prisoner cannot be reversed.
If serious allegations are made against someone, the court will have to take balanced action. The court said it took more than five years to record the statements of the 50 witnesses and that 107 witnesses had not yet been tried.
As such, the court says it is unlikely to complete the trial in the next few days. The bench said it would uphold the lower court’s order granting bail to Majeed on the basis of pending trial, rejecting his (lower court’s) views on the merits of the case.
It is strange that the NIA court found that the prosecution could not prove the primary face of its case even after the 49 witnesses were tried. The High Court directed Majeed to deposit Rs 1 lakh as bail and not to leave the welfare of Thane district. Majeed lives in Kalyan.
Majeed has to appear before the police in Kalyan twice a day for the first two months and then once every day for the next two months. According to the NIA, Majid has reportedly returned to India to travel to Syria to join the terrorist organization ISIS.
Majid was arrested in 2014 by the NIA under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the PDS. The special NIA court granted bail to Majid in March.
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