11 years on, Gujarat court clears Kashmiri man of UAPA charges

AHMEDABAD: A sessions court in Gujarat has cleared a Kashmiri man, Bashir Ahmed alias Aijaz Baba (43), of charges under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and ordered his release. He was arrested in 2010 on accusations of recruiting Muslim youths to send them to Pakistan for training and spread terrorist activities in India.
Baba had come to Gujarat from Srinagar in February 2010 for a training with the Gujarat Cleft & Craniofacial Research Institute in Ahmedabad.He was arrested on March 13 from Anand when he had gone to meet an acquaintance. He was booked under UAPA and for criminal conspiracy to spread terrorism as a member of a banned Hizb-ul-Mujahideen.
Additional sessions judge S A Nakum rejected the Anti-Terrorism Squad’s case that Baba was associated with Hizbul terrorists. The judge said that no evidence was found that he was in touch with terrorist elements through electronic gadgets. The court observed that the prosecution relied on emotional argument and a person cannot be held guilty merely on its fear of anarchy.