[Terror Funding Case] Delhi High Court dismisses NSCN-IM Leader Alemla Jamir’s default bail plea

The Delhi High Court on Monday dismissed a plea by Alemla Jamir, a self-styled "cabinet minister" of Naga insurgent group NSCN-IM arrested in a terror funding case, seeking default bail on the ground that the NIA filed an incomplete charge sheet.

While dismissing the default bail plea, the division bench of Justice Siddharth Mridul and Justice Talwant Singh said there was no illegality or infirmity in the orders passed by the trial court from time to time regarding the detention of Jamir.

“In our view, it is too late in the day for the appellant to raise the issue of filing an incomplete charge sheet as the case has already progressed much further and has reached the stage where part evidence has already been recorded and it implies that the charge-sheet filed against the present appellant is complete charge-sheet, so there is no question of grant of default bail”, the court said.

The prosecution’s case is that Jamir was traveling by air from Delhi to Dimapur and was detained at IGI Domestic Airport, Terminal-I on December 17, 2019, by the CISF for carrying cash of Rs.72 lakhs as she could not explain the source of cash available with her. Intimation was sent to Income Tax Department and thereafter the investigation started.

In her statement to the authorities, the woman claimed that the money belonged to the Isak-Muivah faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland. She also claimed to have received the funds at her home from a friend of Muivah, the insurgent group's general secretary, and that they were intended to be delivered to Muivah in Dimapur, Nagaland.

This information was passed on to the Special Cell and an FIR was registered by the Delhi Police for aiding and abetting the Naga insurgent group NSCN (IM). NIA claimed that Jamir's air tickets were arranged on the direction of Muivah.

Her husband was a relative of Muivah and he was a steering committee member of NSCN (IM) and earlier its Commander-in-chief. This money was to be used for carrying out terrorist operations in India, the NIA alleged.

Jamir's counsel sought her release on statutory bail on the grounds that the trial court had not issued a remand order following the filing of the charge sheet on June 11, 2020. The counsel contended that there was no valid judicial remand order available on the court file as on July 3, 2020, after taking cognizance against both the accused persons including her for offence punishable under Section 120B, 201,384, 465, 467 & 471 IPC and Section 17, 18, 20 & 21 of UA (P) Act, 1967 and u/s 25(1A) of the Arms Act, 1959.

"After taking cognizance, unless and until a bail order is passed, in our view, the undertrial has to remain in judicial custody and as it was not possible for the accused to be produced before the special court because of the Covid restrictions, her remand was rightly extended by the duty metropolitan magistrate as per the directions issued from time to time by the higher judicial authorities keeping in view the prevailing circumstances”, the court said.

The bench observed, “In our view filing of a complete charge sheet within the stipulated period is sufficient compliance and no default bail can be granted in a case where cognizance was taken later on and the custody of the accused/appellant cannot be termed as illegal only on the ground that sufficient amount of time was spent by the court clerk to raise objections regarding page numbering and illegible documents, etc., and the respondent/NIA had taken some time to respond to the said objections and after removal of objections, the cognizance was rightly taken on 03.07.2020”.

Conclusively, the court held that there was no illegality or infirmity in the orders passed from time to time regarding the detention of the present appellant. Accordingly, the court dismissed the appeal.

Case Title: Alemla Jamir v. National Investigation Agency

Statue: The Indian Penal Code; The Unlawful Activities Prevention Act; The Arms Act