Youth accused of securing Aadhaar card for Jaish militant gets bail

SRINAGAR: A Sessions Court in north Kashmir has granted interim bail to a youth from Kupwara who has been accused of securing an election card and an Aadhaar card of the Indian nationality for Jaish-e-Mohammad Fidayeen militant Mohammad Sidiq Gujjar, alias Shahid.

Ishfaq Tantry

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, March 26

A Sessions Court in north Kashmir has granted interim bail to a youth from Kupwara who has been accused of securing an election card and an Aadhaar card of the Indian nationality for Jaish-e-Mohammad Fidayeen militant Mohammad Sidiq Gujjar, alias Shahid. Sidiq Gujjar was apprehended by security agencies during an operation from the outskirts of Baramulla last month.

The Principal District and Sessions Judge, Baramulla, directed the accused, Ayaz-ul-Islam Payar, a resident of Gagloosa in Kupwara, to furnish a bail bond of Rs 50,000 with sureties and personal bond of the like amount. Ayaz got interim bail till April 2.

Ayaz, who as per his bail application, worked as a salesman at a photostat shop at Kupwara, was arrested last month and booked for the offences punishable under Section 19 of the Unlawful Activities Act or (ULA) and Section 7/25 of the Indian Arms Act, as stated in the police report before the court.

In its interrogation report, the police had claimed that a “fake” election card and Aadhar card “helped” Jaish militant Gujjar “to roam freely in Kashmir”. Before his arrest in Baramulla, Gujjar, also took part in a suicide attack on an Army camp in the Tangdhar area of north Kashmir on November 25 last year, it said.

“After considering the facts and circumstances of the case, in my opinion, a case of bail is made out in favour of the accused. Therefore, the accused, Ayaz-ul-Islam is admitted to interim bail till 02.04.2016,” the Principal Sessions Judge, Baramulla, said in his orders made available today.

While arguing in favour of bail, advocates Mudasir Naqshbandi and Neelofar Masood submitted that Ayaz is “innocent and has wrongly been implicated” in the case without having committed any offence.

While “vehemently” opposing the bail to the accused, the prosecution had submitted that the accused is “indulging in militant activities and waging war against the state or the country”.