A file image of separatist leader Shabir Ahmed Shah.
| Photo Credit: The Hindu
The Supreme Court on Wednesday (February 25, 2026) questioned the NIA for referring to certain alleged inflammatory speeches of 1990s while opposing the bail plea of Kashmiri separatist leader Shabir Ahmed Shah in a terror funding case.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) told a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta, which was hearing arguments on Mr. Shah’s bail plea, that there were materials, including inflammatory videos and incriminating e-mails, against Mr. Shah.
When senior advocate Siddharth Luthra, appearing for the NIA, referred to some transcripts of videos, the bench asked about the date of the speeches.
Mr. Luthra said the agency had the dates for some of the videos and they were from the 1990s.
“These speeches are not a new creation. These are something which were already there, say 30 years or 35 years before today. Now, you recover them in 2019 and say that these are the inflammatory speeches,” the bench said.
Mr. Luthra said there were inflammatory videos which were found from Mr. Shah’s premises when his house was searched. He also said there were statements of witnesses against Mr. Shah as well.
The bench asked Mr. Luthra about the stage of trial in the case.
The senior advocate referred to the February 19 order of the trial court and said 34 witnesses were already examined.
He said now the protected witnesses would be examined during the trial.
The bench, which heard the submissions advanced by the NIA, posted the matter for March 12 when senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, who is representing Mr. Shah, would advance his rejoinder arguments.
While hearing the matter on January 13, the top court pulled up the NIA for not properly presenting its case and asked the agency to justify Mr. Shah’s detention for more than six years.
It had asked the NIA to produce a couple of his speeches and other relevant facts in the case.
On September 4 last year, the apex court refused to grant interim bail to Mr. Shah in the case and issued notice to the NIA seeking its response on his plea challenging the Delhi High Court’s June 12, 2025 order.
The high court refused bail to Mr. Shah in the case, observing that the possibility of his carrying out similar unlawful activities and influencing witnesses could not be ruled out.
Mr. Shah was arrested by the NIA on June 4, 2019.
In 2017, the NIA booked 12 people on allegations of conspiracy for raising funds to disrupt by way of pelting stones, damaging public property and conspiring to wage war against the central government.
Mr. Shah was alleged to have played a “substantial role” in facilitating a separatist movement in Jammu and Kashmir by inciting the general public to raise slogans in support of Jammu and Kashmir’s secession, paying tribute to the family of slain terrorists or militants by eulogising them as “martyrs”, receiving money through hawala transactions and raising funds via cross-LoC trade, which were allegedly used to fuel subversive and militant activities.
The High Court dismissed Mr. Shah’s appeal against the trial court’s July 7, 2023, order refusing him bail. It also rejected his alternative prayer seeking “house arrest”, given the serious nature of the charges.
The high court noted that he was the chairman of an unlawful organisation, the Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party.
It examined a table elaborating on the 24 pending cases against Mr. Shah, indicating his involvement in several criminal cases of a similar nature and related to conspiring for the secession of Jammu and Kashmir from the Union of India.
Published – February 25, 2026 06:24 pm IST
