3 get life imprisonment for anti-national conspiracy, spreading jihadi propaganda

Rajkot, Oct 1 (PTI) A sessions court here on Wednesday sentenced three persons from West Bengal to life imprisonment "till their last breath" for engaging in conspiracy against the government by spreading anti-national jihadi propaganda to radicalise youth.

Additional Sessions Judge IB Pathan convicted the three accused -- Aman Siraj Malik (23), Abdul Shakur Ali Sheikh (20), and Shafnawaz Abu Shahid (23) -- and sentenced them to life imprisonment "till their last breath" and Rs 10,000 fine each, said district government lawyer S K Vora said.

The Gujarat Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) arrested them in July 2023. The ATS had received information that they worked as artisans at an imitation jewellery unit in Soni Bazar in Rajkot and were engaged in spreading anti-national jihadi propaganda from a local mosque and working for a Bangladeshi handler to radicalise and recruit youth for terrorist organisation Al Qaeda.

Acting on the intel, the ATS arrested two of them from Rajkot railway station and a third accused from a residential building.

They were booked under section 121 A (conspiring to overawe, by means of criminal force or the show of criminal force, the central government or state government) of the Indian Penal Code and provisions of the Arms Act.

A country-made semi-automatic pistol, cartridges, radical literature, videos, and other materials were recovered from the accused.

They had used highly encrypted messaging apps to keep in touch with their handler based in Bangladesh, who instructed them to carry out different tasks, including radicalising others to join their cause, the ATS had then said.

As per the ATS, one of the accused used a Telegram app to keep in touch with a foreign handler, who was the head of Al Qaeda in Bangladesh.

The Bangladeshi handler inspired Malik for the cause of 'jihad' and 'hijrat' and asked him to inspire others to join their ideology, the ATS had said.

During the argument, Vora established that WhatsApp chat from mobile phones seized from the accused revealed they were engaged in inciting a certain section of the Muslim community to carry out anti-national activities.

Further, the revolver and cartridge seized from them indicated they were engaged in some form of criminal activities, he had told the court.

In their defence, two Muslim persons who were taken as witnesses by the accused had said that the accused were never seen preaching anti-national propaganda from the mosque.

During cross-examination, however, they revealed that they only spent 15-20 minutes of their time in the mosque offering prayer and had no knowledge of what the accused persons did during the remaining hours of the day.

Arguing for life imprisonment "till the last breath", the district government lawyer told the court that the accused were driven by a jihadi propaganda to undertake such an activity and if given any less punishment, they may be used for terrorist attacks after their release.

Despite hailing from West Bengal, the accused came all the way to Rajkot to spread anti-government propaganda regarding Kashmir, he said. PTI COR KA GK