Srinagar, March 13 A court in the Bandipora district of Jammu and Kashmir has acquitted three individuals accused of harboring terrorists who killed a BJP leader and his two family members five years ago.
District and sessions judge Mir Wajah, who is also the special judge designated under the National Investigation Agency (NIA), acquitted the three accused after finding that the prosecution had failed to prove its case.
"The accused, Abrar Gulzar Khan, Muneer Ahmad Sheikh, and Mohammad Waqar Lone, all from Bandipora, are hereby acquitted under Section 39 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act due to lack of sufficient evidence. They are ordered to be released immediately if not required to be detained in connection with any other case, subject to verification by the jail authorities," the judge said in the 89-page order passed on Wednesday.
BJP leader Sheikh Waseem Bari, his father Bashir Ahmad Sheikh, and brother Umar Saeed Sultan Bari were shot dead by terrorists in July 2020 inside their shop in the Bandipora district.
The judge observed that, based on all the evidence presented before his court and after a thorough and impartial consideration of the testimony of all 17 prosecution witnesses, the prosecution has failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused committed the offense under Section 39 of the UAPA.
"Specifically, the prosecution failed to establish any direct, circumstantial, forensic, or technical link between any of the three accused and the terrorist attack of July 8, 2020, or the perpetrators thereof," the order stated.
Regarding the other two accused, the court stated that the proceedings against the absconding accused, Abid Rashid Dar and Azad Ahmad Shah, shall continue in accordance with the law.