FAIZAN ANSARI Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The instant appeal preferred under Sec. 21 of the National Investigation Agency Act, 2008 is directed against the order dtd. 31/7/2025 passed in Misc. Cr. Application No. 724 of 2025 in connection with RC-02/2023/NIA/RNC, arising out of Special (NIA) Case No.02 of 2023, registered for the offence under Ss. 120B, 153A and 505 of the I.P.C. and Ss. 18, 20, 38 and 39 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, whereby and whereunder, the learned court has rejected the petition which has been filed for declaring the appellant juvenile under the Juvenile Justice Act.

(2.) The brief facts of the prosecution case as per the FIR and charge-sheet that the Central Government received reliable information that one Faizan Ansari @ Faiz (A-1) (petitioner), resident of Millat Colony near Madarsa, District Lohardaga, Jharkhand, who resides in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, is a member of ISIS and involved in unlawful activities in association with ISIS operatives based in India and abroad. He, along with his associates, was propagating the ideologies of ISIS through various social media platforms with an ultimate objective of carrying out violent terror attacks in India. Faizan Ansari (A-1) had created and administered multiple ISIS aligned Cyber groups on Telegram and Instagram platforms for disseminating terrorist propaganda materials, including ISIS ventures "Voice of Hind" and "Voice of Khorasan" magazine in order to influence and recruit impressionable youth for carrying out violent attacks in India. Apart from dissemination of inflammatory and radicalizing material, it is also suspected that he had himself created or edited some of these propaganda materials.

(3.) As part of this (ISIS) network, Faizan Ansari (A-1) was also in the process of radicalizing neo-converts and attracting them to the terrorist fold for enriching the cadre base of ISIS in India. He had adopted stealthy Cyber security measures, including usage of virtual numbers, "VPNs and TOR" browsers for communicating with his associates evading law enforcement agencies. He was also in contact with foreign based ISIS handlers, who were guiding him in recruitment of radical terror operatives and carrying out violent attacks. He was contemplating doing "Hijrat" (migration) to a foreign based ISIS conflict after completion of his tasks in India and these activities attract Ss. 120B, 153A, & 505 of IPC and Ss. 18, 20, 38 & 39 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967.