A Delhi court discharged senior Hurriyat leader Asiya Andrabi, Kashmiri photojournalist Kamran Yousuf and vendor Javed Ahmad Bhat in a 2017 militancy funding case.
The Delhi court, in its March 16 order, discharges photojournalist Kamran Yusuf, vendor Javed Ahmad Bhat, and Asiya Andrabi, who were made accused by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) of India in the 2017 militancy-funding case, saying the evidence against them was insufficient, , The Indian Express reported.
In all, there were 17 accused in the case, including Lashker-e-Taiba (LeT) chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM) head Syed Salahuddin, former JKLF chief Yasin Malik, Shabir Shah, late SAS Geelani’s son-in-law Altaf Ahmad Shah, Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali, and Farooq Ahmad Dar. The court, however, ordered framing of charges against the remaining 14 accused under various IPC sections and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, the report said.
The NIA had alleged that Yusuf and Bhat were involved in several stone-pelting incidents and had links with the over-ground workers of some militancy outfits. However, Special Judge (NIA) Parveen Singh in his March 16 order said there was no sufficient evidence to raise a suspicion that the two accused were part of a larger conspiracy.
“There is no evidence before the court that reflects that they were part of a conspiracy to propagate a secessionist agenda,” the court said. Both the accused were out on bail since 2018.
The NIA had filed a case in 2017 and then filed the charge sheet against all the 17 accused from Kashmir, alleging that they were conspiring with militant organisations such as LeT and and HM to ‘instigate general public to resort to violence’ in a bid to propagate their ‘secessionist agenda’.