Gauhati HC grants bail to person booked under UAPA for praising Taliban on Facebook

In a fresh development, the Gauhati High Court granted bail to a person accused of lauding the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan. A single-judge bench of Justice Hitesh Kumar Sarma was hearing a bail petition filed by Maqbool Alam who was arrested in connection with the FIR filed under Sections 120(B),153 A(1)(a) and (c), 298, 505(1)(b)(c), 505(2) of the IPC, Section 66 of IT Act and Section 39 of the UAPA. After perusing the Facebook posts in which Alam praised the terrorist group, the court concluded that his further custodial investigation is not required.

The HC stated that the accused will have to submit a bail bond of Rs.10,000 with one surety of the like amount to the satisfaction of the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Kamrup. Moreover, he cannot leave the territorial jurisdiction of the court without written permission. The court also ordered that Alam shall not hamper with the investigation, tamper with the evidence or make any inducement, threat or promise to any person acquainted with the facts of the case.

The Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan

After the Taliban stormed into Kabul on August 15, Afghanistan president Ashraf Ghani resigned and fled the country with his associates. Since then, several persons have lost their lives in the chaos at the Hamid Karzai International Airport with thousands of people desperately trying to flee the country. This includes the death of at least 169 Afghans, 11 US Marines, a US Navy sailor, and a US Army soldier in a suicide bombing at the Abbey Gate of the Kabul airport on August 26. This led to US airstrikes on terrorists belonging to ISIS-K which claimed responsibility for this attack.

On August 31, the Taliban gained control of the Kabul airport after the last batch of US troops left Afghanistan. Though the Taliban promised to form an "inclusive" government to run Afghanistan, it announced a caretaker Cabinet that neither has women nor mainstream politicians from previous regimes. While Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund, the chief of the Taliban's Rehbari Shura, is the new Prime Minister, he has two deputies in Mullah Baradar and Mawlavi Hanafi. So far, the terror outfit's rule has been marked by repression of women's rights, restrictions on media, economic crisis and atrocities on Panjshir residents.