JAMMU: A Delhi court on January 14 convicted Kashmiri separatist Aasiya Andrabi and two of her associates in a terror case lodged under the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). The UAPA is a law specifically aimed at dealing with cases of terrorism, separatism and secessionism.
Aasiya Andrabi, chief of the banned Kashmiri outfit Dukhtaran-e-Millat (DEM), was arrested on July 6, 2018, for allegedly using various platforms to spread “insurrectionary imputations and hateful speeches” that endangered the integrity, security, and sovereignty of India. Her arrest came within a fortnight of the Mehbooba Mufti-led PDP-BJP government falling in J&K in June 2018.
The judge will discuss the quantum of sentencing on January 17, where Asiya and her two associates face the possibility of life imprisonment also. A detailed order is not in the public domain and is awaited.
All three accused, Aasiya Andrabi, Sofi Fehmeeda, and Nahida Nasreen, were present in the crowded courtroom when the judge announced their conviction.
Seditious Propaganda
According to the FIR filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) , the “central government has received information that Aasiya Andrabi and her associates namely Sofi Fehmeeda and Nahida Nasreen are actively running a terrorist organisation named as Dukhtaran e Millat (DeM) which is proscribed under the First Schedule to the UAPA”.
“They are using various media platforms to spread insurrectionary imputations and hateful speeches that endanger the integrity, security and sovereignty of India. The DEM through Aasiya Andrabi openly advocates secession of Jammu and Kashmir from the Union of India and has also called for Jihad and use of violence against India,” the FIR alleged.
Asiya Andrabi and her associates prided themselves in calling themselves “jihadis’’ and DeM was the largest group of women jihadists in J&K. She supported jihadist Massarat Alam for his role in the 2010 summer unrest in Kashmir valley. On more than one occasion, she hoisted the flag of Pakistan in different places in Kashmir. In fact, this had become her calling signature at one time as she mobilised support through her network of DeM operatives.
Cow Slaughter
On September 12, 2015, when late Mufti Mohammad Sayeed was Chief Minister of the state, she slaughtered a cow and released a video in her attempt to defy the ban on the sale of beef in Jammu & Kashmir. Before that, she had hosted the flag of Pakistan in Kashmir on March 25, 2015, just when the PDP-BJP alliance government had been formed on March 1 that year.
In September 2025, the court of NIA Judge Chander Jit Singh had rejected the NIA’s plea to submit additional evidence against Andrabi and her associates through a supplementary chargesheet. The NIA wanted to submit this evidence after final arguments in the trial had been concluded. These new materials included additional details, such as recovered emails and SMS messages from the accused’s phones, reportedly obtained from American authorities.
Rejecting the NIA plea moved before him on August 2 last year, the Delhi court observed that materials such as social media details allegedly linked to Aasiya Andrabi and her two aides, though freshly obtained from authorities in the US, could “at best” be additional evidence. The details, the court opined, cannot be “essential”, given that months had passed since the conclusion of the trial proceedings.
Aasiya Andrabi, along with her two aides, had protested against the NIA plea, calling it an act akin to reopening their case. Their counsel had argued that this evidence should not be taken up in the case. It was considered a setback for NIA at that time.
Framing of Charges
Much earlier, some years ago, in February 2021, the court framed terrorism, sedition, UAPA and other charges against Andrabi and her two associates for allegedly waging war against the government of India and conspiring to commit terror acts in the country. This was done after going through the evidence presented by the NIA and for trail in the case.
The court had framed charges under sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 121 (waging war against the Government of India), 121-A (conspiracy to wage war against Government of India), 124-A (sedition), 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups), 153-B (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national-integration) and 505 (statements conducing to public mischief) of the IPC.
It had also framed charges under sections 18 (conspires or attempts to commit, or advocates, abets, advises or incites terror act), 20 (being a member of a terrorist gang or organisation), 38 (offence relating to membership of a terrorist organisation) and 39 (offence relating to support given to a terrorist organisation) under the UAPA Act. As per the NIA, Andrabi and her associates were involved in a conspiracy to “severely destabilise the sovereignty and integrity of India”. The agency further claimed that through their activities on cyberspace, the three were running a concerted campaign to solicit support of the Pakistani establishment, which included arranging support from terrorist entities from Pakistan.
The NIA had further claimed the three were using various media platforms to spread hateful speeches that endanger the integrity, security and sovereignty of India and that they openly advocated secession of Jammu and Kashmir from the Union of India.
They were first arrested in 2018 and have been in custody since then.
Aasiya’s Husband
Aasiya Andrabi is married to a convicted terrorist who has been in jail for over 30 years now. His name is Ashiq Hussain Faktoo (also known as Qasim Faktoo), a Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) founder, who has been incarcerated since 1992, convicted of murder and involved in other cases related to terrorism and secessionism in Kashmir. He was convicted of the murder of a renowned human rights activist, Hriday Nath Wanchoo. In that case, two more of his associates were also convicted for spreading terrorism and carrying out select killings.
Due to political pressure and the lacklustre policies of earlier governments, both in J&K and at the Centre, Faktoo was outside jail intermittently. A case was also made that, when he was out of jail, he had not committed any new crime and, on this basis, he should be released. However, these plans could not fructify as the present governments adopted a hard stance against terrorism.
