Delhi, India: On May 1, the Delhi High Court denied default bail to Naga insurgent group National Socialist Council of Nagaland Isak-Muviah (NSCN(IM)) leader Alemla Jamir, who was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in a terror funding case. She is facing trial under various provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) for “aiding and abetting NSCN-IM terrorist organization and their activities.”
Alemla Jamir challenged the Special NIA Court’s order dated July 3, 2020. She sought release on statutory bail contending that after the chargesheet was filed on June 11, 2020, no order was passed remanding her to custody or taking cognisance against her. Alemla Jamir also argued that the charge-sheet filed in the case is an incomplete chargesheet.
The NIA opposed the grant of bail to Alemla Jamir, claiming, “the active involvement of the appellant with the terrorist organization NSCN (IM) as a Minister and also her involvement in extortion activities stands established. If the appellant is released on bail, she will abscond and escape from the clutches of law and from territorial jurisdiction of India through illegal migration via Myanmar. The husband of the appellant is already living in Myanmar/China and he is operating from there with an intention to wage war against the State.”
The Court noted, “After taking cognizance, unless and until a bail order is passed, in our view, the under-trial has to remain in judicial custody and as it was not possible for the accused to be produced before the Special Court because of the Covid restrictions, her remand was rightly extended by the Duty Metropolitan Magistrate as per the directions issued from time to time by the higher judicial authorities keeping in view the prevailing circumstances.”
“Hence, in our view filing of a complete charge-sheet within the stipulated period is sufficient compliance and no default bail can be granted in a case where cognizance was taken later on and the custody of the accused/appellant cannot be termed as illegal only on the ground that sufficient amount of time was spent by the court clerk to raise objections regarding page numbering and illegible documents etc., and the respondent/NIA had taken some time to respond to the said objections and after removal of objections, the cognizance was rightly taken on 03.07.2020,” the court held.
Furthermore, the Court held that there was no illegality or infirmity in the Special NIA Court’s orders regarding her detention. The Court said, “In our view, there is no illegality or infirmity in the orders passed from time to time regarding detention of the present appellant. The appeal, is therefore, devoid of merits and accordingly dismissed.”
Background
The CISF apprehended her at IGI Domestic Airport, Terminal-I, on her to Dimapur from Delhi. She was found carrying Rs 72 lakhs in cash and she was unable to explain the source of cash available with her. Thereafter, an intimation was sent to Income Tax Department and an investigation started. The Court noted that she told the officials that the unexplained cash belonged to NSCN(IM), which is a banned organisation. Furthermore, she informed that she “received the cash from an associate of Mr. Muivah, General Secretary of NSCN (IM) at her residence and the same was to be handed over to Mr. Muivah at Dimapur, Nagaland.”
The Court observed that, “The husband of the appellant is a relative of Mr. Muivah and he is a Steering Committee member of NSCN(IM) and was earlier Commander-in-Chief of the terrorist organization NSCN (IM). This money was to be used for carrying out terrorist operations and other terrorist activities in India.” The NIA submitted to the Court that Alemla Jamir disclosed about her involvement in terrorist activities being carried out by the NSCN(IM). Furthermore, the NIA informed the Court that her husband is an Ex. Army Chief of NSCN (IM) and that he continues to hold a senior position in the terror organisation.
The NIA also submitted that, “The appellant is working for NSCN (IM) since her marriage in the year 2000. The appellant is the Chairperson of the Women Society of NSCN (IM) and is also a Minister of the terrorist organization NSCN (IM).” The NIA added, “The appellant, as well as her husband were stated to be in touch with unknown foreign activists to garner support of their activities against Indian State. During the course of investigation, statements of people, who had knowledge of these types of acts, were recorded and incriminating documents/pictures of arms/Armed Cadres of NSCN (IM) were collected.”
