The government has said it will challenge the order in the Supreme Court.
NEW DELHI: The Students Islamic Movement of India is no more a banned organisation. The tribunal that hears appeals from organisations accused of unlawful activities on Tuesday lifted the ban saying Union home ministry had not provided enough evidence to justify its charge that Simi is involved in terror-related activities in different parts of the country.
The government has said it will challenge the order in the Supreme Court.
Justice Geeta Mittal of the Delhi high court, who headed the Unlawful Activities Prevention Appellate Tribunal, scrapped the Union government’s 2006 ban on Simi citing lack of concrete reason to continue with it.
Simi was first banned for two years in 2001 under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act after intelligence reports said its cadres were joining Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and providing support in setting up ‘sleeper cells’ in India.
The then tribunal chief Justice R C Chopra upheld the ban two years ago. However on Tuesday, the tribunal, which conducts proceedings in camera, said the material provided by the Union home ministry was not enough to extend the ban.
In her 267-page decision, Justice Mittal said: “The [home ministry’s] notification should tell what leads you to declare SIMI a banned organisation.”
Justice Mittal told the government: “What precluded it from stating the facts? You have to satisfy the tribunal about the sufficiency of the reason behind issuing a fresh notification [on the ban].”
The government, on the other hand, justified its notification saying it could ban organisation like Simi even in anticipation. “Earlier, we issued notification and then the Malegaon blasts happened. Simi still indulges in communal activities and it is a threat to the secular fabric of our society,” additional solicitor general Kalyan Pathak had told the tribunal.
Simi’s lawyer Mobin Akhtar said the group had always maintained that there was no evidence against it.
Shahi Badr Filahi, the group’s former chief, expressed happiness at the tribunal’s decision. In an interview to a TV channel, he said, “We are happy with the development. We are thankful to God for this. We will open our office first and will also ask for compensation from the Government.”
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