NEW DELHI: Delhi HC Thursday refused to grant bail to Kashmiri separatist Shabir Ahmad Shah in a terror funding case, citing the possibility of him carrying out similar unlawful activities and influencing witnesses. The court also rejected Shah’s alternative prayer seeking “house arrest.” Shah, arrested by NIA in 2019, had moved HC against trial court’s July 7, 2023 order refusing him bail.“This right (to freedom of speech) cannot be misused under the guise of carrying out rallies wherein a person uses inflammatory speeches or instigates public to commit unlawful activities, detrimental to the interest and integrity of the country,” Justices Navin Chawla and Shalinder Kaur observed.NIA booked Shah among 12 people in 2017 for allegedly conspiring to collect funds to cause disruption through stone pelting, and conspiring to wage war against India.
