The Delhi high court on Friday granted bail to British Sikh national Jagtar Singh Johal in seven cases against him under the anti-terror law The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
The NIA opposed bail to Johal, stating that he was a foreign national and a flight risk, who was facing trial for serious offences like encouraging terrorism, separatism and killing of people belonging to a particular community. The court directed him to be released on a personal bond of ₹ 5 lakh with two sureties each in the like amount.
A bench of justices Navin Chawla and Ravinder Dudeja said Johal was in custody for more than eight years, and despite the Supreme Court’s directions, the “pace of the trial has not really picked up” and it was “certainly not likely to conclude any time soon”. The agency accused Johal, who was arrested in 2017, to be an “active member” of the “terrorist gang” Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF). The probe was transferred from Punjab Police to NIA after offences were identified to be a part of a “transnational conspiracy”. “The appellant is directed to be released on bail in the above RC (s),” the bench ordered on Johal’s appeals challenging the denial of bail to him by the trial court.
The National Investigation Agency’s (NIA) cases against Johal, a resident of Dumbarton in west Scotland, arise from a series of allegedly targeted murders and attempted murders in Ludhiana and Jalandhar districts of Punjab in 2016-2017.
