NEW DELHI: A special NIA court on Tuesday sentenced hardline separatist Aasiya Andrabi to life imprisonment for conspiring to wage war against India, observing that any leniency for the Dukhtaran-e-Millat chief would only “infuse fresh vigour” into her efforts to secede Kashmir.
Additional Sessions Judge Chander Jit Singh also handed down 30-year prison sentence to Andrabi’s close associates, Sofi Fehmeeda and Nahida Nasreen, for their roles in the conspiracy.
After convicting Andrabi (62), Nasreen (58), and Fehmeeda (48) in the case in January this year, the court gave a reasoned 28-page order for the quantum of sentence for them.
The judge said “no remorse has been shown by any of the convicts in respect of their acts rather it is submitted that they are proud of what they were doing and also that they will continue to do the same work”.
He drew a similarity of this case with that of 26/11 accused and lone terrorist arrested, Ajmal Kasab, who had shown no remorse for his act of violence while raining bullets in Mumbai on November 26, 2008.
The judge said showing any leniency will amount to infusing a fresh lease of life and vigour in the spirit of convicts which aims at secession of an integral part of India.
The court also reasoned that showing any tolerance to the convict has a potential to send a message to other with similar ideas that they can get away with such acts through incarceration for some years and may promote the ideas of causing secession of part of India.
It noted that the document on the introduction of Dukhtaran-e-Millat (DeM), an organisation founded by Andrabi, said that Jammu and Kashmir had never been part of India.
“Thus, accepting the contention of the convicts on the face value that they will continue to do their work and as established by the prosecution that convicts never minced their words regarding secession of Kashmir from India and its amalgamation in Pakistan,” the order said.
“Treating the convicts with leniency will amount to infusing a fresh lease of life and vigour in the spirit of convicts which aims at secession of an integral part of India,” it said.
Regarding the defence argument that the convicts were educated women with several health issues, the court said no complaints had been made regarding the medical treatment provided to them in custody.
“The fact of convicts being educated women aggravates the liability for consequences of their actions, rather than mitigating it as from an educated person, it is expected that they have taken an informed decision regarding their actions and have not done anything instinctively,” the order said.
The court said the three convicts had not been misguided or lured into engaging in the offences, and they had proudly acknowledged their acts, besides emphasising that they would continue to do them.
“Therefore, the factor of convicts being educated women makes them all the more liable for their acts as they seem to be the acts which convicts have chosen knowingly and voluntarily,” it said and underscored that the convicts’ conduct was not a one-off incident, but rather a “continuous conduct”.
The judge said that though the convicts did not use violence to achieve their nefarious design and aim, they indirectly promoted the use of violence by eulogising some slain terrorists.
“The acts of the convict brought on record may not apparently be the direct cause of inciting violence but infusing the minds of Kashmiris…that Kashmir is not part of India…it may lead them to use all kind of method including violence to seek the supposed liberation, the idea of which is wrongly seeded in their minds,” the order said.
The judge highlighted that Andrabi was the leader, and the two other convicts played the role of ground soldiers in the conspiracy.
The court awarded the life term to Andrabi under Section 18 (punishment for conspiracy) of the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), as well as under Sections 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 121A (conspiracy to wage war against the Government of India) of the IPC.
Under Section 121A, the law addresses conspiracies to commit offences punishable by Section 121, which carries the maximum penalty of death or life imprisonment for waging war against the state. The court clarified that all sentences for the convicts would run concurrently.
Fehmeeda and Nasreen were sentenced to 30 years of simple imprisonment under the same sections of the UAPA and IPC.
The three had been convicted on January 14, following which the National Investigation Agency (NIA) had sought life imprisonment for Andrabi, saying she had waged war against India, and a stern message was required to be sent that conspiring against the State would invite the harshest penalty.
In the detailed 286-page judgment passed in January, the court had observed that the trio had orchestrated a systematic campaign to destabilise the region.
Relying on evidence provided by the NIA, including videos and social media posts, the court noted that the accused repeatedly claimed Kashmir was under “forced Indian occupation” and belonged to Pakistan.
“The material on record is rife with such speeches as well as various posts by all the accused, especially of accused 1 (Andrabi),” the court stated.
“It is clear that the accused are not merely stating that Kashmir is an unfinished agenda of partition; rather… this aspect is misused to support, endorse and propagate that Kashmir is not part of India,” it said.
The judge had further noted that Andrabi used the DeM platform to create a “facade” that Kashmir’s integral status was up for debate under the pretext of a “right to self-determination”.
The court highlighted the radical narrative pushed by the convicts, which was premised on a religious “two-nation theory”. The judgment noted their belief that because Kashmir has a majority Muslim population, it should belong to Pakistan.
Critically, it pointed out the convicts’ total rejection of the Indian state and said, “It is clear that the accused do not bear an allegiance to the Constitution of India…they do not believe in the Constitution and are also not ready to uphold it and the sovereignty of India as they are seeking secession of an integral part of India.”
Andrabi and her associates were originally charged in February 2021 following an extensive investigation into their efforts to incite the local population and coordinate with entities across the border to challenge India’s territorial integrity. (PTI)