Delhi HC: Downloading Pro-IS Materials Alone Not Evidence of Association

Delhi High Court while granting bail to an alleged IS supporter under anti-terror UAPA law, said being fascinated with the terror organization, doesn’t amount to being associated with it.

As further noted by a bench of Justices Suresh Kait and Manoj Jain, they declared that accessing of hardliner muslin preacher isn’t enough to brand him as a member of such terrorist organization.

Later, the court also emphasized, that the accused Ammar Abdul Rahiman was just a radicalized person. Who was the believer of IS ideology and was storing alleged objectionable contents on his phone. But it doesn’t indicate that he tried to further disseminate this content.

As observed by the court, any curious mind nowadays can download and access such content from the internet. Which by itself isn’t a crime.

“Such type of incriminating material, in today’s electronic era, was freely available on World Wide Web (www) and mere accessing the same and even downloading the same would not be sufficient to hold that he had associated himself with IS, – Delhi Court while approving Rahman’s bail plea.

Later while granting the bail, court opined that merely downloading pro-IS material and accessing the sermons of Muslim hard-liners isn’t enough to attract Section 38 (offence relating to membership of a terrorist organization) and 39 (Offence relating to support given to a terrorist organisation) of UAPA.

What Was the Case?

Recently, The National Investigation Agency (NIA) had alleged that Rehman conspired with IS members for undertaking ‘Hijrah’ to Jammu and Kashmir and carry out the activities of IS in India.