JOIN USThe National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday took custody of Aasiya Andrabi, the chief of banned Dukhtaraan-e-Milat (DEM), in connection with a case of waging war against the country and delivering hate speeches in Kashmir.
Andrabi, who was lodged in Srinagar jail after the Jammu & Kashmir High Court cancelled her bail last month, was brought to the national capital and produced before the NIA court, which sent her to 10 days custody for interrogation. Her associates Sofi Fehmeeda and Nahida Nasreen were also brought to the capital.
In the court, the NIA sought 15 days but District and Sessions Judge Poonam Bamba granted the agency custody of 10 days.
In April, the NIA had registered a case against them and the organisation, which is banned under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, under the directions of the Ministry of Home Affairs in April.
Sources said the NIA told the court that investigators seized a number of mobile phones of members of DEM. They claimed that they were in regular touch with their associates in Pakistan.
The NIA claimed that the trio was involved in a conspiracy to severely destabilise the sovereignty and integrity of India. It also claimed that they were using the cyberspace to run a concerted campaign to solicit the support of Pakistani establishment and arrange support from terrorist entities.
The NIA FIR claimed, "They are using various media platforms to spread insurrectionary imputations and hateful speeches that endanger the integrity, security and sovereignty of India. DEM through Aasiya Andrabi openly advocates secession of Jammu & Kashmir from the Union of India and has also called for Jihad and use of violence against India."
Andrabi and her associates were also accused of speaking, writing and publishing "visible representations that bring into hatred and contempt apart from exciting disaffection towards the Government of India".
The NIA had also separately named Andrabi in terror funding case, which the agency is investigating.