New Delhi, March 24 – A special NIA court has sentenced three operatives of the banned Dukhtaran-e-Millat (DeM) terrorist organization to imprisonment ranging from 30 years to life in connection with a 2018 Kashmir secession conspiracy case, an official said on Tuesday.
Dukhtaran-e-Millat is a women-only organization with the declared objective of achieving the secession of Kashmir from India, according to a statement issued by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
Aasiya Andrabi, the founder and chairperson of Dukhtaran-E-Millat, has been sentenced to life imprisonment, the statement said.
Sofi Fehmeeda and Nahida Nasreen have been sentenced to 30 years in prison, along with a fine, it said.
The three women were arrested in July 2018 by the NIA, which had registered a suo motu case (RC-17/2018/NIA/DLI) in April 2018, the statement said.
The accused, all hailing from Kashmir, were convicted by the trial court at Karkardooma, Delhi, in January 2026, under Sections 18, 38 and 39 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and Sections 153A, 153B, 120B, 121A and 505 IPC.
The court found the three accused guilty of actively operating DeM to promote the separation of Jammu & Kashmir from the Union of India, the NIA said.
According to the judgment pronounced by the Special NIA Court on Tuesday, Aasiya has been sentenced concurrently under various sections of the IPC and the UA(P) Act to the maximum sentence of Life Imprisonment and a total fine of Rs 8 lakh, the statement said.
She was married to Ashiq Hussain Faktoo, a terrorist of the banned Hizbul Mujahideen organization, who is serving a life sentence in connection with the killing of H.N. Wanchoo, a prominent human rights activist, it said.
Aasiya is also named in 32 other FIRs registered at various police stations in Jammu & Kashmir, the NIA said.
Nahida Nasreen, General Secretary of DeM, and Sofi Fehmeeda, the outfit's Press Secretary, have each been convicted and sentenced concurrently under different provisions of the IPC and the UA(P) Act, with a maximum of 30 years of Simple Imprisonment and a total fine of Rs 7 lakh each, the NIA said.
While Sofi Fehmeeda has eight other cases registered against her, Nahida Nasreen has four, the anti-terror agency said.
All three had been chargesheeted by the NIA in November 2018 on the basis of a thorough examination of various incriminating materials, including social media chats, videos and media interviews, the NIA said.
The investigation established the convict's active role in supporting and furthering DeM's terrorist and secessionist activities, it said.
The NIA's investigation further revealed that the accused had used various social media and public platforms to spread hate and incite violence and jihad, with the aim of seceding J&K from India, thereby threatening the integrity, security, and sovereignty of the nation.
