'Didn't violate any bail condition': SC upholds Delhi HC order on man booked under UAPA for 'sympathising' with ISIS

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld a Delhi high court order granting bail to a man booked under the stringent anti-terror UAPA law for allegedly sympathising with the terrorist group ISIS.A bench of justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh said the accused Ammar Abdul Rahiman did not violate any of the bail conditions.No instances were brought on record to show Rahiman violated the bail conditions, it added.The bench also noted the accused was arrested on August 4, 2021, and the trial was yet to conclude."Prosecution proposes to examine more than 160 witnesses, out of whom 44 have been examined till now. Conclusion of the trial will take some reasonable time. Respondent was released on bail after spending about three years in custody as an undertrial," news agency PTI quoted the bench as saying.The judges observed the accused regularly appeared in the trial court and did not attempt to obstruct the ongoing trial."We see no reason to cancel the bail granted to the respondent," their order read.Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the National Investigation Agency (NIA), accepted Rahiman cooperated in the investigation and regularly appeared in the trial court.Bhati, however, objected to his plea to apply for the passport to travel abroad till the trial was pending.The bench restrained the accused from foreign travel while the trial is pending, and without their permission.On May 6 last year, the Delhi high court granted bail to Rahiman. A high court bench observed the material on record did not suggest commission of offences under Section 38 (offence relating to membership of a terrorist organisation) or 39 (offence relating to support given to a terrorist organisation) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.The NIA alleged Rahiman was "highly radicalised" towards ISIS and allegedly entered into criminal conspiracy with known and unknown ISIS members for undertaking "Hijrah" (religious migration) to Jammu and Kashmir and other ISIS-controlled territory to join the group for "establishment of Caliphate" and to carry out its activities in India.