By TCN News,
New Delhi: The banned Students Islamic Movement of India on May 1 filed an affidavit in the Delhi High Court Tribunal to inform it has chosen not to contest the declaration of the ban any more. Ex-SIMI president Shahid Badr Falahi said in the affidavit that he wants “to put an end to this mindless, futile, unequal, unethical and unjust exercise in which the Government has shamelessly used the Judiciary to achieve its ends of casting a shadow of criminality on the entire Muslim community.”
In his affidavit before the Justice Sanjiv Khanna, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Tribunal of Delhi High Court, Badr said the Central Government has continued ban on SIMI since September 2001 without proving any charge against it. Moreover, the court is also not hearing its petition against the last three bans upheld by the Tribunal.
After every ban he was served notice by the tribunal, he contested the ban but it was upheld by the tribunal. He approached the Supreme Court. The court accepted the petition but is yet to hear any one. As soon as the fourth ban was lifted by the tribunal the central government secured stay on the tribunal order by the Supreme Court. When he was served notice after the fifth ban (February 6, 2010) he again appeared before the tribunal but after seeing the same old charges without any evidence, he decided not to fight the case any more.
“After the present tribunal was constituted as well, I was served with notice to appear in the present proceedings. I therefore asked counsel to appear before this Hon’ble Tribunal and seek information regarding the basis on which the organisation has once again been declared unlawful. However, a perusal of the notification and the background note reveals that it is once again a tissue of the same old lies, with minimal cosmetic changes,” Badr said in the affidavit.
“From my experience of contesting the declarations of SIMI as an unlawful association, I am left with no other option but to conclude that the intention of the Government seems to be to crush any voices of dissent from marginalized communities. It appears that the central govt. is using the provisions of the UAPA and the good offices of the judiciary to send out a message that some Fundamental Rights are not available to Muslims and that to be Muslim is to be suspect. This is state terrorism.”
“Importantly, in not a single case since the imposition of the first ban on the 27th of September 2001, has any conviction against any member of the association in respect of an ‘unlawful activity’ attained finality before any court of law. Every case registered against members of the association has ended, either in acquittal or discharge of the accused.
Insidiously, numerous Muslim organisations, many of whom have never had any relationship with SIMI, are sought to be tainted by false, baseless and completely unfounded allegations that they are front organisations or otherwise connected with SIMI. The list increases with every subsequent tribunal constituted.
Personally, on every occasion that the matter was contested before the tribunal the central govt. made completely false, unsupported and sweeping allegations against me of fund raising and continuing the activities of the unlawful association.”
SIMI was banned first time on 27/09/2001 by the Central Government. On the intervening night of the 27th and the 28th of September 2001, before he was informed that SIMI had been declared an unlawful association, Badr was arrested and charged with being a member of an unlawful association. While in custody, he was served with a notice by the tribunal constituted to adjudicate the validity of the declaration of SIMI as an unlawful association. As the last president of SIMI before it was declared an unlawful association, he engaged counsel to contest the proceedings on his behalf. When the tribunal upheld the validity of the declaration, he petitioned the Supreme Court, which was pleased to grant leave to appeal and admit the appeal as Civil Appeal No. 9208 of 2003.
The first ban of 27 September 2001 was to expire on 26 September 2003. However, on 26 September 2003, the govt. issued another notification, once again declaring SIMI an unlawful association. Badr was still in custody, but once again, contested the declaration and then appealed the decision of the tribunal upholding the declaration, before the Delhi High Court. Vide order dated 04 January 2008, the Supreme Court transferred the petition to itself and had it tagged along with pending Civil Appeal No. 9208 of 2003.
On 8th February 2006 the Central Government once again (third time) declared SIMI an unlawful association. When the Tribunal constituted to adjudicate the validity of the notification upheld the notification, Badr once again filed a Special Leave Petition. The Supreme Court granted leave and the petition is currently still pending before the apex court as C.A. No. 1323/2007.
On the occasion of the last declaration of ban by the govt. on 07th of February 2008, he once again appeared through counsel. This time the tribunal headed by Ms. Justice Gita Mittal held that the central govt. had no grounds to declare SIMI an unlawful association. The tribunal therefore cancelled the declaration of the central govt. but within 24 hours the central government approached the Supreme Court (6th August 2008) seeking stay on the judgement of the Tribunal. The apex court granted stay without informing or hearing the other party. And this February 7, 2010 the central government imposed fifth ban on SIMI.
“SIMI has therefore been more or less continually banned since September 2001, making a complete mockery of the intention behind the UAPA and the safeguards supposedly built into the statute to prevent abuse. As yet, the Hon’ble Supreme Court has heard none of the three appeals filed by me,” Badr said in the affidavit.
About himself and his inability to contest the case any more he say:
“I have never committed any offence whatsoever, either during the period when the declarations have been effective, or before the organisation was declared an unlawful association. I completed my ‘Bachelor of Unani Medicine and Surgery’ (BUMS) programme from Aligarh Muslim University in the year 1998 and run a small clinic in Village Manchobha, where I live, and where I offer my services to people irrespective of their race, caste, class or religion. This is my practice of Islam. My medical practice, and through it, service to the community is very important to me. For several of my clients, I am the only source of medical care. I am therefore not in a position to leave Village Manchobha for extended periods of time.”
“In view of the above facts, I want to put an end to this mindless, futile, unequal, unethical and unjust exercise in which the Government has shamelessly used the Judiciary to achieve its ends of casting a shadow of criminality on the entire muslim community. I have therefore chosen not to contest the declaration of the central govt,” Badr said.