A Full Bench of the Kerala High Court has held that production or smuggling of high-quality counterfeit Indian currencies into the country before the amendment to Section 15 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act are not punishable as a 'terrorist act' under the law.
The Bench, by a majority of 2:1 judgment, made the ruling while dealing with a petition filed by Abdul Salam, alias Podi Salam, third accused in the Nedumbassery counterfeit currency case.
The amended section which came into force on February 1, 2013 prescribed punishment for producing or smuggling of counterfeit Indian currencies, treating it as an act of terrorism.
Observation
While Justice A.M. Shaffique and Justice P. Ubaid observed that the amended section could not be made applicable to deal with and punish actions of import or circulation or smuggling of high-quality counterfeit Indian paper currency before February 1, 2013, Justice P. Somarajan agreed with an earlier Division Bench's observation that even under un-amended Section 15, such actions were punishable as an act of terrorism affecting the economic security of the country. According to Justice Somarajan, the amendment gave more emphasis on the commission of “terrorist act,” causing damage to the monetary stability of India by way of production, smuggling or circulation of high-quality counterfeit Indian paper currency.
The majority judgment observed that the law applied by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to prosecute the accused and others under the Act was in fact an ex post facto law that was not in force in the country as on the date on which the alleged offence was committed.
The court observed that if the trial court had already framed charges against the accused, the court shall alter the charges appropriately if there was no alternative charges under the provisions of the Indian Penal Code.
The Bench observed that the accused could approach the trial court for bail.
