MP: Sessions court partially upholds conviction of man in SIMI hate pamphlet case

Indore, Jul 31 (PTI) A sessions court in Indore on Wednesday partially upheld a trial court’s conviction of a 50-year-old businessman for pasting inflammatory pamphlets of the banned outfit Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).

The trial court had on April 24 sentenced the convict to three years’ rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 3,000 on him under a provision of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.

Additional Sessions Judge Pankaj Yadav confirmed the three-month-old verdict convicting Aman Khan under section 13 (punishment for unlawful activities) of the anti-terror law.

The sessions court, however, acquitted the businessman of the charges invoked under another provision of UAPA, saying there was no evidence on record to declare him a SIMI member.

According to the prosecution, Khan was pasting inflammatory pamphlets of SIMI against the government at the Sarwate bus stand in Choti Gwaltoli police station area of Indore in 2008 and some posters were also found in his pocket at the time of his arrest.

The court said a perusal of the pamphlets seized from the convict clearly shows his unlawful activity.

The prosecution had described Khan as a SIMI member. In his appeal, challenging all the prosecution charges, the businessman claimed the police falsely implicated him.

The court observed that there was no evidence on record to show that Khan was a member of the banned organisation.

The additional sessions judge acquitted Khan of the charges under Section 3 (declaration of an organisation unlawful) read with Section 10 (imposition of fine for being a member of an unlawful organisation) of UAPA. The trial court had sentenced Khan to two years' rigorous imprisonment and fined him Rs 2,000 under these provisions. PTI HWP MAS NR