A special NIA court has rejected the bail plea of Insha Jan alias Insha Tariq, an accused in the 2019 Pulwama suicide attack that killed 40 CRPF personnel, observing that sufficient material existed on record to presume that the accusations against her were prima facie true.
She is facing trial on charges under the Ranbir Penal Code (RPC), the UAPA, the Arms Act and the Explosive Substances Act. In his 15-page order delivered on August 20, Special Judge Prem Sagar held that the statutory bar under Section 43-D(5) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) also operated against the accused and prevented her release on bail at this stage. Jan, a resident of Harkipora village in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district, was arrested along with her father, Peer Tariq Ahmad Shah, on March 3, 2020. The court framed charges against her on December 10, 2022.
The defence relied principally on Jan’s prolonged incarceration, alleged delay in trial, and her health condition, while the NIA opposed the bail plea citing the seriousness of the charges, the material collected during investigation, and the restrictions imposed by Section 43-D(5) of the UAPA. The court also placed significant emphasis on Section 43-D(5) of the UAPA, which mandates that an accused in custody under Chapters IV and VI of the Act cannot be released on bail if the court, after reviewing the case diary or chargesheet, finds reasonable grounds to believe the accusations are prima facie true. The court’s decision came after it considered the arguments from both the defence and the National Investigation Agency (NIA). The defence submitted that Jan has been in custody for more than six years and argued that the prolonged trial had made her continued incarceration unjustified.
