2017 terror-funding case: Court discharges three, orders framing of charges against 14

The NIA had alleged that Yusuf and Bhat were involved in several stone-pelting incidents and had links with the over-ground workers of some terror outfits. However, Special Judge (NIA) Parveen Singh in his March 16 order said there was no sufficient evidence to raise a suspicion that the two accused were part of a larger conspiracy.

“There is no evidence before the court that reflects that they were part of a conspiracy to propagate a secessionist agenda,” the court said. Both the accused were out on bail since 2018.

The NIA had filed a case in 2017 and then chargehseeted all the 17 accused from Kashmir, alleging that they were conspiring with terrorist organisations such as LeT and and HM to ‘instigate general public to resort to violence’ in a bid to propagate their ‘secessionist agenda’.

As per the court documents, the NIA alleged that the terrorist organisations with the support of Pakistan, in connivance with the accused, were ‘raising, receiving and collecting funds locally as well as abroad’ through illegal channels to fund the protests.

In charges against Yusuf and Bhat, the NIA had relied on various documents, including a report of Anantnag DIG, identifying Yusuf as a member of WhatsApp group ‘Pulwama Rebels’, and another document that stated he had posted pictures of terrorists with caption ‘Freedom coming soon’. Another document claimed Yusuf was in contact with one Adil, who was an overground worker of terror outfits, and that Bhat was an overground worker of HM.

The court, however, said these were only unsubstantiated opinions; and while discharging Yusuf and Bhat, it noted that the statements of two protected witnesses were similar.

“No basis for drawing this conclusion has been placed on record…thus in absence of any evidence, these merely remain unsubstantiated opinions. Now, take the statements of the witnesses. I find that these are two very vague statements which on the face of it, have been given in a very routine manner, a fact which is further verified because both are verbatim same. Therefore, the evidence pressed against the accused 11, 12 (Yusuf and Bhat) is on a very weak footing and can only raise a slight suspicion, not grave suspicion about the involvement of the accused in these incidents,” the court observed.

Key observations

While ordering framing of charges against the other accused, the court made three important observations.

On money being given to the families of those killed or injured

It can be and has been argued that this was a humanitarian effort to help the victims of unrest. However, scrub the surface and out comes a sinister plot. Create unrest, unleash violence and aid the victims by Pakistani funds which shall lead to creation of a class of people ready to join the cadres of secessionists and terrorists. The end object makes it nothing but an act of terror funding. Coming together with these people again points towards a conspiracy and Pakistani hand in it.

On criminal conspiracy

There ‘appears’ to be a third kind of conspiracy which has emerged. “…I call it the orchestra conspiracy. As in an orchestra, each player has its own instrument to play but sharing the same stage, every player or member of the orchestra knows the other player and the role the other person has to play. It is the conductor of the orchestra holding the baton in his hand who with the raising of his baton directs which player has to play when and what part.”

On ‘Gandhian path’ for protests

Prima facie they were not following the Gandhian path but their plan was straight from the play book of likes of Hitler and the ‘march of The Brownshirts’. The object was to overawe the government by the sheer scale of violence, and nothing less than a plan for insurrection.