Hear IS-linked Majeed's bail plea afresh, HC to special court

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday set aside an order of a special court rejecting the bail plea of Areeb Majeed, who has been booked under terror charges, and directed the court to hear the plea afresh.

Majeed was arrested in November 2014 on charges of allegedly travelling to Iraq and Syria to join terror group Islamic State (IS). He is in jail since then.

A division bench of Justices B P Dharmadhikari and N R Borkar was hearing an appeal filed by Majeed challenging the September 19, 2019 order passed by a special court refusing him bail.

Majeed in his plea in HC claimed the special court, while refusing his bail plea, had failed to take into consideration the change in circumstances, on the basis of which he was seeking bail.

According to Majeed, he had sought bail from the special court on the ground that the trial against him was delayed, and that the NIA did not have jurisdiction to investigate an offence which allegedly took place in Iraq and Syria.

Majeed on Tuesday told HC that presently only 45 witnesses have been examined by the special court out of the 187 cited in the charge sheet.

"Out of the witnesses examined, several have turned hostile and have even testified they were coerced into giving false statements by the probe agency," Majeed told the court.

The bench, after hearing brief arguments, set aside the September 2019 order and directed the special court to hear his bail plea afresh.

The bench said the special court shall hear and decide Majeed's plea within a period of six weeks.

Majeed's bail pleas were rejected on two more occasions in the past.