E-Paper
SC grants bail to 2 Indian Mujahideen men in 2011 case
The Supreme Court has granted bail to two alleged Indian Mujahideen operatives observing that their continued incarceration beyond 12 years in a case witnessing “slow trial” is grossly violative of their right to liberty under the Constitution of India
The Supreme Court has granted bail to two alleged Indian Mujahideen operatives observing that their continued incarceration beyond 12 years in a case witnessing “slow trial” is grossly violative of their right to liberty under the Constitution of India.
Ordering their release in a 2011 case registered against them by the Delhi Police special cell, a bench of justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta said, “We feel that the continued incarceration of the petitioners in this case is grossly violative of the right to liberty enshrined under Article 21 of the Constitution of India.” The order was passed on Monday but uploaded on Wednesday.
The accused — Mohd Saquib Ansari and Waqar Azhar were arrested in 2014 on a statement made by a Pakistani national who disclosed that the accused were planning to establish a module of Indian Mujahideen in Rajasthan. Based on this tip-off search of their premises in Jodhpur led to recovery of gunpowder, ammonium nitrate, detonators and other articles allegedly used for the preparation of explosive devices.
The bench noted that since 2014, they have remained incarcerated and in two other FIRs registered in Rajasthan on overlapping charges. In one case they were convicted and their sentences suspended by the Rajasthan high court while in the second case, they were granted bail. However, they were unable to come out due to the pending case filed by the Delhi police.
While the police opposed bail claiming that the allegations to be serious and the concurrent dismissal of bail pleas by the trial court and Delhi high court, as recently as on April 24, 2026, the bench found that the trial in the case is progressing very slowly.
Out of 197 prosecution witnesses, the bench noted that only 67 have been examined so far. The data accessed by the court further revealed that from January 2025 till date, only two witnesses have been examined with one examined only in part. “The progress of the trial has been extremely slow, and there appears to be no prospect of the trial being concluded in the near future,” the bench observed. In all, 25 accused have been named accused and one co-accused was granted bail by the trial court in July this year.
The court left it for the trial court to impose bail conditions and directed them to cooperate with the trial. The order further stated that in the event the trial court or the prosecution finds them to be delaying the conclusion of trial or misusing the liberty granted to them, it would be open to the prosecution to approach the top court for passing appropriate directions.
