Special NIA court in Kashmir acquits Asif Bashir Khan booked under UAPA

Srinagar: A special NIA court in Kashmir acquitted Asif Bashir Khan, booked under the UAPA, attempt to murder and Arms Act in connection with a grenade blast in Ganderbal district of Jammu and Kashmir in 2022, and ordered his immediate release.

The court stated that terrorism prosecution demands seriousness from every institution and the seriousness of accusation cannot justify conviction upon an inadmissible confession, an uncertain discovery and unauthorised digital assertion.

Additional Sessions Judge, Fozia Paul, who is the special judge, designated under the NIA Act in Ganderbal district of central Kashmir, said that the prosecution must prove the accused's act and intent not merely the occurrence and subsequent suspicion. Khan was lodged at Kot Bhalwal Jail of Jammu and was represented by advocate Adil Pandit and Associates.


"Suspicions however grave cannot substitute legal proof," read the order, while referring to a Supreme Court of India order quoting Lord Denning, "Proof beyond doubt does not mean proof beyond the shadow of a doubt...if the evidence is so strong against a man as to leave only a remote possibility in his favour..the case is proved but if there is any reasonable doubt the accused is entitled to the benefit of it."

The case registered under sections 13,16,18, 23, 28 of the UAPA, section 7/27 of the Arms Act and section 307 of the IPC was of a grenade attack on a police post in the Zeergund area of Ganderbal on February 7, 2022. The police named Khan and three others as accused in the case which include two persons who have died and a third person allegedly an "unknown Pakistani" who has not been apprehended.

"The prosecution has failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt the charges under sections of the UAPA, sections of the IPC, section of the Arms Act against Asif Bashir Khan. He is accordingly acquitted of all the charges on benefit of reasonable doubt. The accused shall be released forthwith from the custody unless required in any other case," read the order issued September 30.

The order stated that the cumulative assessment therefore does not carry the prosecution case beyond suspicion to proof beyond reasonable doubt.

"The court is conscious that the occurrence alleged by the prosecution, a grenade attack upon police and security personnel is grave and strikes at public order and the security of the state. Gravity, however, does not dilute the standard of proof. A special penal statute does not create a special standard for conviction," the order stated.

The court also stated the alleged disclosure statement and recovery under...Evidence Act are legally invalid, uncorroborated by independent witnesses and conducted from an open accessible public place...the seized grenade was never sealed on the spot, its chain of custody was broken and expert evidence failed to establish that it was a live functional explosive device," read the order.