FPJ Legal: Youths who pleaded guilty in ISIS indoctrination case sentenced to 8 years in jail

FPJ Legal: Youths who pleaded guilty in ISIS indoctrination case sentenced to 8 years in jail

Bhavna UchilUpdated: Friday, January 07, 2022, 11:07 PM IST
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FPJ Legal: Youths who pleaded guilty in ISIS indoctrination case sentenced to 8 years in jail |

Mumbai: A special court on Friday sentenced two youths accused of propagating the Islamic State (ISIS) ideology among local youth in Malad’s Malvani area in 2015, to eight years in prison. The two had pleaded guilty to the charges against them last month.

Rizwan Ahmed, 25, has spent six years in custody, having been arrested in January 2016 while Mohsin Sayyed, 32, has spent close to 5.5 years in prison. The time they have undergone as undertrials will be deducted from their eight-year sentence. Special Judge under the National Investigation Agency (NIA) Act A T Wankhede also imposed a total fine of Rs 35,000 on each of them, in default of which they will have to spend more time in prison. For some charges they were facing under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), the punishment could have gone up to life in prison.

On Friday, the court heard the NIA Prosecutor Prakash Shetty and the youths’ advocate on the quantum of sentence. Prosecutor Shetty argued that the duo had pleaded guilty at a belated stage in the trial and a heavy sentence must be imposed, keeping in mind the gravity of the offence. In their written application pleading guilty, Rizwan and Mohsin had told the court that they had been in prison since 2016 and that they be sentenced to the period already undergone by them. The two had said that they were lured by sentimental material on social media and gone wayward for a short time in their younger days. They had further said they wanted to return to mainstream society and rehabilitate themselves.

The two were charged with being hardcore members of the terror outfit ISIS and with conspiring with two absconding accused to persuade local youth from Malad's Malvani area to join the outfit. The duo was facing charges under provisions of the UAPA dealing with conspiracy of terror activity, membership of a terrorist organisation, and support given to such outfit – and for criminal conspiracy under the Indian Penal Code.

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