The additional sessions court in Rajkot Tuesday convicted three men from West Bengal for conspiring to wage war against the State and sentenced them to imprisonment for the remainder of their natural life. Abdul Sukarali alias Abddulah Hajrat Sheikh (20), Aman Siraj Malik (23), and Saif Navaz Abu Sahid (23), who were arrested by the Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) on July 31, 2023, from Rajkot, had been booked under IPC Section 121(a) (conspiring to overawe, by means of criminal force or the show of criminal force, the central government or state government) and Sections 25(1-B)A (illegal possession of firearms and ammunition) and 27 (unlawful use of arms and ammunition) of the Arms Act. The three were employed as jewellery artisans at Rajkot's Soni Bazaar from where they were arrested for alleged links with militant organisation Al Qaeda. Malik belongs to Hooghly district while Sheikh and Sahid belong to Bardhaman district of West Bengal. Speaking to The Indian Express, Public Prosecutor S K Vora said, “The ATS, on July 26, 2023, received information that some people were spreading propaganda regarding the state of Kashmiri Muslims. Based on the information, the three men were arrested on July 31, 2023. The ATS seized a pistol and 18 cartridges from the accused. Devices with WhatsApp messages on Kashmiri Muslims and propagating disaffection against the government were also recovered from the accused. Based on these chats, the charges were proved." Vora said that the defence had argued that the chats didn't mean they were waging war against the state. “But the Section itself provides that if such a conversation is carried out, it amounts to conspiring to wage war against the state,” he said. "I argued that such people are trained for months together, otherwise they wouldn't have such a mindset and weapons. I also argued that if they are released from jail in 4-5 years, they could be radicalised further," said Vora. Regarding the background of the convicts, Vora said that they had come to Gujarat from West Bengal and worked as labourers. Additional Sessions Judge Ikramkhan Bashirkhan Pathan held the three guilty for waging, attempting to wage, or abetting the attempt to wage war against the state in the order pronounced on Tuesday. Vora, however, confirmed that the prosecution did not establish the alleged ties of the convicts to any fundamentalist, radical or terrorist groups. Regarding evidence presented during the one-and-half-year trial, Vora said, "The evidence included the pistol, cartridges, and chats in a group called 'Rah-e-Hidayat' and admissions of visiting certain masjids." Vora said the defence had argued that the three men had never propagated their messages to other persons. "The defence examined two witnesses who said the accused were never seen preaching anti-national propaganda from the mosque," he said. However, during cross examination, Vora said, the prosecution showed that the witnesses just visited the masjid for 10-15 minutes and they didn't know what the accused persons used to do after that. Case history The Gujarat ATS had on July 30, 2023, arrested the three men from West Bengal, working in the jewellery-making industry in Rajkot, for alleged links with Al Qaeda While Ali and Nawaz are natives of Bardhaman district, Malik is a native of Hooghly district of West Bengal. While Malik stayed near Jilla Garden, the others stayed in two jewellery shops at Soni Bazaar in Rajkot. At the time of the arrest of the three men, ATS officials had told mediapersons that Aman Malik had been in touch with foreign handlers through social media apps such as Telegram and Conversation, and had joined a cult called ‘Al Qaeda Tanzim’. “Aman then got in touch with a person named Muzamil via Telegram. The latter allegedly helped him procure a semi automatic pistol and encouraged him to join jihad and migrate,” the ATS had said. According to ATS, Aman got in touch with his acquaintances Abdul Sukur Ali and Saif Nawaz and invited them to join ‘Al Qaeda Tanzim’ and facilitated their entry into it
