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September 28, 2001
1918 IST

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Court rejects bail plea of SIMI activists

A Delhi court on Friday rejected the bail plea of four arrested activists of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), including its national president Shahid Badr, on the ground that they had published an article in their magazine 'hurting' the sentiments of Buddhists.

Referring to a prominent article in the magazine 'Islamic Movement' published by the outfit, the judge said "It has one prominent article on 'Taleban Bamiyan and Budh', the reading of which is enough to show that this magazine and article has been published with the sole aim to hurt and cause ill will to the followers of Lord Buddha. The bail application is therefore dismissed."

Metropolitan Magistrate Vinod Kumar then remanded Badr, Saif Nachan, Mohd Khalid and Irfan Khan, who had been arrested earlier for raising provocative slogans in protest against the ban on the organisation, to 14 days in judicial custody.

Referring to the order banning SIMI, he said "I have carefully gone through the notification published in the Gazette of India extraordinarily on September 27, which notifies the ban on SIMI with immediate effect. I am of the opinion that at this stage this is sufficient to reject the bail application."

The court also rejected the bail plea of Asif Mohd Khan, controversial municipal councillor from Okhla in Delhi, who was arrested on charges of causing communal disharmony by printing and circulating posters to create enmity between Christians and Muslims and remanded him to 14 days judicial custody.

"The contents of the posters attempt to promote enmity, hatred and ill will between Muslims and Christians. If the accused is enlarged on bail, it will encourage elements whose interests lay in promoting such ill will," the court said.

Khan allegedly had got the posters praising Saudi terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden pasted on buses and public places following the terrorist strikes in USA.

The magistrate said, "References to war between Christianity and Islam have been given in quite bold letters" in the posters, "the meaning of which has to be read in the context of the recent developments after the attacks on the World Trade Centre in America."

Stating that great restraint on behalf of all citizens was required in the present political and social atmosphere, the court said, "A councillor has greater responsibilities than others, being a representative of the people and having taken oath to uphold a secular constitution."

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