‘He got carried away, committed a serious mistake’: Bombay HC upholds bail for Areeb Majeed, accused of traveling abroad to join ISIS

Areeb Majeed, who allegedly left to fight for ISIS, has walked of prison today after his bail was upheld by the Bombay High Court. He had allegedly left to join ISIS with three others in 2014 and returned six months later, following which he was promptly arrested and handed over to the NIA.

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The Court said, “We have observed that the respondent is an educated person, who was completing his graduation in Civil Engineering when he left for Iraq at the age of 21 years. He categorically stated before us that as a 21-years-old, he was carried away and that he had committed a serious mistake, for which he had already spent more than six years behind bars.”

“In the past more than six years of his incarceration, the respondent has argued his case on his own before the NIA Court. He represented his own case before this Court as well as the NIA Court and we could find that he was presenting his case by maintaining decorum and in a proper manner,” it added.

Areeb Majeed has claimed that he was brought back to India with the help of the NIA and the Indian Consulate in Istanbul. He has been charged under section 125 of the IPC (waging a war against any asiatic power in alliance with the government of India) and sections 16 (punishment for terrorist act) and 18 (punishment for conspiracy) of the UAPA, LiveLaw has reported.

“I was 21 years old, I was moved by the suffering. I went there and was helping people there,” he had told the Court when asked why had he gone there. He also claims that he has been falsely accused of committing acts of terrorism by the authorities.

The Bombay High Court has imposed the condition that he reports to the local police station twice a day everyday for the first couple of months, once a day for the next two, thrice a week the next two and twice a week till the trial is completed. He has also been ordered not to make international calls or give any statement to the media.

The Special Court had granted him bail on March 17, 2020 which was subsequently stayed following an appeal by NIA.