Delhi court sentences 15 ISIS operatives to varying jail terms in conspiracy case

A special NIA court in Delhi awarded varying jail terms to 15 persons associated with terror organisation ISIS for hatching a criminal conspiracy to carry out acts of terrorism in the country.

Image used for representational purpose

New Delhi: A Delhi court Friday (Ocotber 16, 2020) awarded varying jail terms to 15 persons associated with terror organisation ISIS for hatching a criminal conspiracy to carry out acts of terrorism in the country.

They were allegedly trying to establish its base in India by recruiting Muslim youths through different social media platforms.

The judge awarded the punishment for various offence punishable under sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC, and provisions of the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and Explosive Substances Act after the convicts pleaded guilty.

Special Judge Parveen Singh sent Nafees Khan to jail for 10 years with a fine of Rs 1,03,000. While three convicts got seven-year jail term each and one person was awarded six year imprisonment.

The court also awarded five-year jail term to nince other convicts, their advocate Qausar Khan said.

Those awarded seven-year jail term were Abu Anas with a fine of Rs 48,000, Mufti Abdul Sami Qasmi  with a fine of Rs 50,000 and Mudabbir Mushtaq Sheikh with a fine of Rs 65,000.

While Amjad Khan was sent to jail for six years and a fine of Rs 78,000.

The convicts who were awarded five years' jail term are; Obedullah Khan, Mohd Hussian, Najmul Huda, Mohd Afzal, Suhail Ahamed, Mohd Aleem, Moinudeen Khan, Asif Ali and Syed Mujahid. A fine of Rs 38,000 has also been imposed on them.

The accused pleaded that they were remorseful for the acts alleged against them, and undertook not to indulge in similar acts and activities in future.

The case was registered by the NIA on December 9, 2015 under a larger criminal conspiracy hatched by the ISIS to establish its base in India by recruiting Muslim youths for the proscribed terror group through different social media platforms.

The accused had formed Junood-ul-Khilafa-Fil-Hind organisation, seeking to establish a caliphate in India and pledging allegiance to ISIS, to recruit Muslim youths to work for the ISIS and commit acts of terrorism in India at the behest of Syria-based Yusuf-Al-Hindi who is purportedly the media chief of ISIS, the NIA said.

The NIA filed chargesheets against the accused persons in 2016-2017.

This case was first of its kind in which terrorist conspiracy of this magnitude involving online radicalisation was effected on cyber space in the aftermath of declaration of Islamic Caliphate by ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in 2014, the NIA had said.