On Friday, the Supreme Court's division bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice Hima Kohli issued notice in an appeal filed by the Central government against a Karnataka High Court ruling that attending "jihadi meetings" of organisations not outlawed by the government does not constitute a "terrorist act."

A person charged with terror offences under the UAPA was thus granted bail by a Division Bench of Justices B Veerappa and S Rachaiah on the grounds that the group with which he was associated was not a banned organisation.

"Admittedly, in the present case, the prosecution has not proved that accused no 11 has associated himself with any organization which is prohibited or barred under the provisions of the UA(P) Act. Admittedly, he is a member of Al-Hind group. It is not a prohibited organization under the Schedule of the UA(P) Act, 1967 and the charge sheet material does not depict that he was convicted for the offences involved or crimes or terrorist activities... there are no reasonable grounds for believing the accusation against the accused no 11 prima facie true," the High Court had said.

The case was transferred to the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which discovered additional information about the appellants before the High Court during its investigation.

Later, a charge-sheet was filed against them under Sections 18 (punishment for conspiracy), 18A (organising of terrorist camps), 20 (punishment for being a member of a terrorist gang or organisation), and 39 (offence relating to support given to a terrorist organisation) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), as well as Section 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The two accused had applied for bail, which was denied by the trial court because there was sufficient evidence indicating their involvement in the alleged crime, so they went to the High Court.

Case Title: Union v. Saleem Khan