STATE TIMES NEWS
New Delhi: Kashmiri separatist Aasiya Andrabi on Wednesday approached the Delhi High Court against the attachment of property in Srinagar by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
A bench of Justices Mukta Gupta and Anish Dayal sought the NIA’s stand on the petition which challenges the trial court’s May 2 order refusing to interfere with the attachment and listed the case for further hearing on September 28.
Andrabi, who was chief of the banned outfit Dukhtaran-e-Milat (Daughters of Nation) was arrested in 2018 by the NIA for the alleged commission of offences under the Indian Penal Code, including sedition, waging war against the country, and the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
The case was registered by the NIA under the direction of the Union Home Ministry.
The high court also sought the agency’s stand on a similar petition by Andrabi’s associate Sofi Fehmeeda concerning the attachment of her car.
In her petition, Andrabi contended that the order of attachment was illegal as none of the owners of the property is part of Dukhtaran-E-Millat.
She further said that the attachment amounts to a parallel proceeding and is premature and not suitable in the eyes of law.
When the acts of the appellant have not been proven in any court that the property was, in fact, being used or intended to be used for a terrorist act, the adjudicating authority only relying upon the statements recorded u/s 161 Cr.P.C which are not judicial records were not in a position to proceed with the act of attaching the property because they did not have any reason to believe, the plea said.
The plea added that the trial court order refusing to interfere with the attachments has wrongly held that every act of a proscribed Organization is a terrorist act.
The seizure of the property was on the allegation that the property in question was the proceeds of terrorism and that it had been used for the furtherance of terrorist activities, however, the Designated Authority has no proof of the same, and even the charge sheet filed in the court is silent about any aspect of the appellant or the movement receiving any proceeds of terrorism, it stated.
