NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court will next month hear a petition declaring the Islamic State and all its fronts a banned outfit under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. It has appointed senior lawyer Mukta Gupta to assist the court.
The petition was filed by Saquib Abdul Hamid Nachan, 64, who was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in December 2023 on charges that he heads the Islamic State module.
Nachan, who was also the former general secretary of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India, was convicted in connection with three bomb blasts in Mumbai in 2002-2003 that killed about a dozen people. He walked out of jail in November 2017 after serving his sentence.
Following his arrest by the NIA, Nachan petitioned the top court in December 2023 challenging the ban against the Islamic State or Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and accusing the government of “targeting of certain ideologies and terminologies of the Holy Quran and Caliphate”.
Nachan, who is being held in Tihar jail in connection with the NIA case, appeared via video conferencing to argue his case before the bench of justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan on two dates
At the last hearing on December 4, the bench noted that the petitioner had a “good command on English and has the etiquette on how to address the court”.
“However, having regard to complex legal issues involved in the matter and after being persuaded by us, he (Nachan) has fairly agreed to the appointment of amicus curiae for the assistance of this court,” the bench said in its order, appointing former Delhi high court judge and senior advocate Mukta Gupta as amicus curiae.
The top court will take up the case on January 22.
The bench directed the court registry to coordinate an online meeting of the amicus with the convict and allowed him to remain present virtually during the next hearing granting him the liberty to supplement the arguments presented by the former HC judge.
Nachan’s petition challenged the constitutional validity of two notifications issued by the Centre on February 16, 2015 and June 19, 2018 enlisting Islamic State, Islamic State of Iraq and Levant, ISIS, Daish, Islamic State in Khorasan Province, ISIS Wilayat Khorasan, Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham-Khorasan and all its manifestations as ‘terrorist organisation’ under the UAPA.
Justice (retd) Mukta Gupta retired from the Delhi high court in June last year after serving as a judge for 14 years. Before her elevation to the bench, she was the prosecutor in several high-profile cases including cases related to the 2001 Parliament attack, Jessica Lal murder and Naina Sahni murder, (also known as the Tandoor case).