Pics of Bin Laden, ISIS flags on phone not sufficient to brand someone as terrorist: Delhi HC grants bail to ISIS supporter in UAPA case

New Delhi, May 8: In a major development, the Delhi High Court on Monday granted bail to an alleged ISIS supporter in a case under the anti-terror law UAPA, saying his 'fascination' with the banned terrorist organisation cannot be dubbed as his association with it.

However, a bench headed by Justice Suresh Kumar Kait stated that 30-year-old Ammar Abdul Rahiman was, at best, a 'highly radicalised person' who believed in ISIS ideology and was merely downloading and storing certain allegedly objectionable contents on his mobile phone but there was nothing to indicate that he made any endeavour to further disseminate these.

Any curious mind, the court observed, can access and download such content from the internet, which, by itself, is not a crime. "Merely because the mobile device of the appellant was found carrying incriminating material including photographs of terrorist Osama bin Laden, Jihad Promotion, ISIS flags, etc. and he was also accessing lectures of hard-liner/Muslim preachers would not be enough to brand him as a member of such terrorist organization, much less his being acting in furtherance of its cause," the bench, also comprising Justice Manoj Jain, said.

"Such type of incriminating material, in today’s electronic era, is freely available on World Wide Web (www) and mere accessing the same and even downloading the same would not be sufficient to hold that he had associated himself with ISIS. Any curious mind can access and even download such content. That act by itself, to us, appears to be no crime," added the court while allowing Rahiman's appeal against a trial court order refusing to release him on bail.

The court held that being in possession of incriminating material, in hard form or soft form, would not be sufficient to hold that such possession was with the intention to further terrorist activities as 'there has to be something more than that'.

"At best, the appellant was highly radicalized and had downloaded pro-ISIS material and was accessing the sermons of Muslim hard-liner but that would not be enough to attract Section 38 (offence relating to membership of a terrorist organisation) and 39 (Offence relating to support given to a terrorist organisation) of UAPA," the court stated.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested Ammar Abdul Rahiman in August 2021 who entered into a criminal conspiracy with ISIS members for undertaking 'Hijrah' to Jammu and Kashmir and to carry out the activities of ISIS in India. It was stated the appellant followed pro-ISIS Instagram account and photographs of global terrorist Osama bin Laden, Jihad promotion, ISIS flags etc. were also found in his digital devices.

The court therefore directed that the appellant be released on bail on such terms and conditions as the trial court may consider fit and proper. It also held that the court can consider bail plea in a UAPA case, even after ascertainment of charges as the right to seek bail is an indefeasible one and can be exercised at any stage.