Tribunal upholds extension of ban on SIMI

Tribunal upholds extension of ban on SIMI

A Tribunal on Wednesday upheld the Centre's decision to extend the ban on Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) for indulging in unlawful activities.

The Tribunal headed by a Delhi High Court judge Justice Sanjiv Khanna passed the order after hearing extensive arguments from the government and the SIMI counsel.

The order passed by the Tribunal has been sent to the Home Ministry.

The Judge pronounced the order in his chamber in the presence of Additional Solitior General A S Chandhioke and SIMI's counsel Mobin Akhtar.

The Centre had contended before the Tribunal that extending the ban was needed to bring the Muslim community to national mainstream by checking its "disgrunted" elements.

There was sufficient evidence to prove that SIMI has been operating in the country despite being banned in 2001, the ASG had said.

The government had on 5th February  had extended the ban on SIMI, the fifth since 2001, by two years from February seven under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.

SIMI was outlawed for the first time in September 2001 for its involvement in terrorist acts and the ban was extended in 2003 and 2006.

The last time the ban on SIMI, formed in April 1977 as a youth wing of terror outfit Jamaat Islami-e-Hind, was extended for two years was on 8th February, 2008.

In its notification, the Home Ministry had declared SIMI as an "unlawful association indulging in activities prejudicial to the security of the country" and with "potential of disturbing peace and communal harmony and disrupting the secular fabric of the country".

The group is alleged to have close links with Pakistan-based terror outfits, particularly Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish- e-Mohammad.