A special tribunal constituted to hear complaints against the ban of Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) almost completed its sitting on the second day itself. The tribunal, headed by Justice Sanjiv Khanna of the Delhi High Court, was to make a three-day sitting at the Government Guest House here.
T.K. Vinod Kumar, Deputy Inspector General of Police, who is the head of the special team of Kerala against terrorism, appeared before the tribunal on Tuesday and presented evidence on cases registered against SIMI.
The Kerala Police had registered cases against SIMI activities at Panayikulam, Wagamon and Edakkadu. All the cases were later handed over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA). Mr. Vinod Kumar said that evidence substantiating the cases had been transferred to the NIA for detailed probe.
Debate
The counsels appearing for SIMI moved petitions for defining the jurisdiction of the tribunal, leading to a detailed debate at the tribunal. At the end of the discussions, Justice Khanna cited the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 — under which SIMI was banned — to clarify that the tribunal was set up by a notification issued by the Union government and it could not deliberate on validity of the notification.
The tribunal was set up to hear complaints on the extension of the ban on SIMI for two more years by the Union government on February 2010. The organisation was first proscribed in September 2001 for its suspected links with terrorist activities. The ban was extended in 2003 and 2006.
On Monday, the tribunal recorded statements from S. Sasidharan, the then Deputy Superintendent of Police, who probed the case pertaining to SIMI organising a meeting at Panayikulam, the then DySP K. Kannan, who probed the case on a training camp held at Wagamon and also DySP V.K. Akbar, member of the special squad against terrorist-related cases.
Winding up the proceedings on Tuesday, Justice Khanna said that public witnesses can come for hearing on Wednesday too at 10.30 a.m., even though the hearing process had virtually ended with Mr. Vinod Kumar's appearance on Tuesday.
The tribunal will now hold more sittings at different parts of the country before reaching a conclusion.
