Early Times Report
Jammu, July 2: The Special Judge NIA Cases, Jammu, Prem Sagar, today rejected the bail pleas of Shabir Ahmed Shah in the 1996 Srinagar violence case and extended his judicial custody till July 14.
Shah, presently lodged in Central Jail, Kot Bhalwal, Jammu, had moved two applications before the court — one seeking regular bail and another seeking statutory/default bail — in case RC-01/2026/NIA/JMU.
The case has been registered for offences under Sections 147, 148, 336, 341, 307, 332 and 427 RPC, Section 13 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, and Sections 7 and 27 of the Arms Act.
The matter relates to an incident of July 17, 1996, at Naaz Crossing, Srinagar. As per the NIA’s stand before the court, a mob allegedly led by Hurriyat activists, including Shabir Shah, turned violent during a procession, raised anti-India slogans, resorted to stone-pelting, disrupted traffic, damaged property and some unknown persons from the mob allegedly fired upon the police party with an intention to kill them.
Advocate Tanveer Ahmed Khan appeared for Shah and argued for bail, while Public Prosecutors Ashwani Verma and Chandan Kumar Singh represented the NIA. The NIA, through CIO DySP Ankit Rohilla, strongly opposed the plea, submitting that the investigation was still in progress and material was being collected.
Rejecting the regular bail plea, the court observed that the investigation was actively going on and only a few days were left for filing the charge-sheet within the statutory period. The court held that once the charge-sheet is filed, it would be in a better position to examine the contentions of the applicant in the light of the material collected by the agency. Holding the plea to be premature, the court dismissed the application.
The court also dismissed Shah’s statutory bail application. Shah had pleaded that the charge-sheet was not filed within the prescribed period and that he had acquired an indefeasible right to default bail. However, the court held that since the offence falls under UAPA, the prosecution has 90 days, extendable up to 180 days, to file the charge-sheet, and the said period had not expired. The court termed the application premature and without merit.
On the NIA’s remand application, Shah was produced through video conferencing from jail. After perusing the case diary and hearing the prosecution, the court remanded him to judicial custody for 13 days till July 14, with a direction to lodge him in Central Jail, Kot Bhalwal, Jammu. The court also directed that he be medically examined after every 48 hours as per rules. (JNF) |
