Kerala Court Sentences Two Men To Seven Years In Jail For Joining ISIS

The three of them were convicted on Tuesday on charges of spreading ISIS ideology and attempting to migrate to Syria.

The court had convicted them under Sections 38 and 39 of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and various other sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) including Section 120B.?

Section 38 of UAPA pertains to offence relating to membership of a terrorist organisation and 39 pertains to offence relating to support given to a terrorist organisation. IPC Section 120B pertains to criminal conspiracy.

NIA court judge Anil K Bhaskar sentenced the first and fifth accused in the case —Midlaj (31) and Hamsa (61)— to seven years of rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 each.

The second accused Abdul Rasak (38) was awarded six years and slapped with a fine of Rs 40,000.

"The substantive sentence of imprisonment imposed shall run concurrently," the court said in its order.

Meanwhile, NIA standing counsel PG Manu told the media that the prosecution was satisfied with the judgement as the conviction and the subsequent sentencing happened after that even the conspiracy charges were also proved.

The NIA had re-registered a Kerala Police (Valapattanam Police Station) FIR of October 2017 to start the probe into the case. It later filed a chargesheet in April 2018 against four people, including the above mentioned three people.

The case was first registered at Valapattanam Police Station in Kerala's Kannur district before the NIA took over the probe in 2017 after reports that over 15 people from various parts of the district joined ISIS.?

(With PTI inputs)