3 convicted: Three men were sentenced to life imprisonment in Gujarat on charges of spying and leaking confidential information about India's military bases to the ISI.
A sessions court in Ahmedabad comprising additional sessions judge, Ambalal Patel, rejected the prosecution's appeal for capital punishment stating that their crime does not fall under the “rarest of rare" category.
The court observed that the convicts were employed in India, however, their love was for Pakistan.
It also said that a "person sitting in India and spying for Pakistan as a citizen of India should voluntarily leave the country or the government should search for them and send them to Pakistan".
The convicts were identified as Sirajuddin Ali Fakir (24), Mohammad Ayub (23) and Naushad Ali (23). The charges that were put against them included criminal conspiracy and waging war against the country under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Official Secrets Act, and the Information Technology Act in the 2012 case.
The trio was given life imprisonment under sections 121, 121 (A) and 120 (B) of IPC and section 66 (F) of the IT Act, along with 14 years of rigorous imprisonment under section 3 of the Official Secrets Act, and ten years jail under section 123 (Concealing with intent to facilitate design to wage war) of IPC. All the sentences will run concurrently.
Case background story
Fakir and Ayub, both residents of Jamalpur locality were arrested by the Ahmedabad crime branch on October 14, 2012, for passing on confidential information related to Army bases in Ahmedabad and the Gandhinagar Army Cantonment to the ISI.
Another accused, Naushad Ali who is a resident of Jodhpur, was arrested on November 2, 2012, on charges of providing information about the Jodhpur Army cantonment and BSF headquarters. A suspected ISI agent based in
Jamnagar was also held. However, he was acquitted in February 2013 under section 169 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) for want of evidence. He later turned approver in the case.
According to the chargesheet, Fakir, Ayub, and Ali aided the Pakistanis by saving messages in drafts to facilitate the Pakistani officials accessing them using emails.
The prosecution said that accused Fakir visited Pakistan in 2007 and met one Taimur while Ali met ISI agents in the neighbouring country in 2009.
Police had recovered the map of the Ahmedabad-based Army cantonment from Fakir's residence. The court held that despite being Indian citizens, the trio thought about the benefit of Pakistan.
"Actually, a person who is sitting in India and spying for Pakistan as a citizen of India should voluntarily leave the country and go to Pakistan or the government should search for them and send them to Pakistan," the court observed.
"All the accused are citizens of India and got employment in India. But there is no love or feeling of patriotism towards the country. Instead, they have found love, affection and patriotism for Pakistan, as a result of which they sent secret information about Indian Army movements to the ISI in Pakistan for three consecutive years and got lakhs of rupees from Dubai," the court said.
The prosecution had taken prior sanction of the Indian Army about what constitutes classified and secret information.
Gujarat and the Central governments had also given the nod for prosecuting the trio.
(With PTI inputs)
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