Shamli: The Allahabad High Court has allowed the re-trial of Pakistani national Waris alias Raja and a local Ashfaq Nanhe of Jaula village in Uttar Pradesh, accused of anti-national activities. Raja, a resident of Wazirabad in Gujranwala district of Pakistan was arrested with grenades and guns from Jaula village by the police of Kandhla Police Station in Shamli of Uttar Pradesh in 2000 and he was charged under IPC Section 121 (attempt to wage war against the country), relevant Sections of the Foreigners Act, the Explosive Substances Act and the Passport Act.
Four local citizens, including the owner of the house Ashfaq Nanhe where Waris was staying, were also arrested by the police. They were charged under IPC Sections 121-A (conspiracy to commit offence), 122 (collection of arms etc with intent to wage war against the Government of India) and 123 (concealment with intent to facilitate contemplation of war).
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He was released in December 2021 on the orders of the High Court, which quashed his conviction on the grounds of loopholes in the prosecution. However, assistant prosecution officer Tabassum from Shamli district court on Thursday said that after obtaining the permission of the government in the said case by the police, the charge sheet was sent to the court, on which Judicial Magistrate Arun Singh had issued summons to the accused.
The assistant prosecution officer said that the High Court has upheld the order of the judicial magistrate and now the matter will be sent to the sessions court where the trial will start again. Pertinently after Waris's arrest, police had claimed that there were links between Waris and terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed. In 2017, the trial court in Muzaffarnagar sentenced Waris and Ashfaq Nanhe to life imprisonment under Section 121.
However, Waris was acquitted under the charges of the Passport Act and the Explosive Substances Act. The court had acquitted the other accused of all charges. Waris was sent to the Bareilly Jail. In 2019, the Allahabad High Court started hearing an appeal filed by Waris from the Bareilly Jail. The court had said, "Serious structural discrepancies" have been found on the part of the prosecution and the sanction of the Central or State government was not even taken in the case of sedition.
On August 5, 2019, a two-judge bench of Justice Sudhir Agrawal and Justice Rajendra Kumar quashed the conviction of the appellants under Sections 121, 121-A, 122 and 123 of the IPC, while the bench under the Foreigners Act quashed the conviction of the appellants. Waris was to be imprisoned for three years, but he had already spent 19 years in prison due to which he was released from prison in December 2021. He was released, but he could not be sent to Pakistan because the government of Pakistan had refused to accept him as its citizen, so he was kept in a police station in Shamli.
