Overview

• A division bench of Justices Navin Chawla and Shalinder Kaur upheld the trial court’s July 7, 2023, order and dismissed Shah’s bail appeal with a succinct “the present appeal is dismissed.”
• The NIA’s 2017 FIR accuses him and 11 others of raising funds via hawala and LoC trade to instigate stone-pelting, property damage and waging war against the Indian state.
• The court affirmed that freedom of speech cannot shield inflammatory speeches or rallies that incite violence or threaten national integrity.
• Shah, chairman of the Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party, has remained in judicial custody since his June 4, 2019, arrest and faces 24 connected criminal cases.
• With charges framed in March 2022, the ongoing trial lists over 400 witnesses but has examined just 15, while co-accused Mohd Yasin Malik has been sentenced to life imprisonment.