Khandwa court acquits alleged SIMI activist

INDORE: Khandwa dictrict court acquitted an alleged SIMI activist who was jailed in 2001 for being the member of the banned group and for possessing objectionable content enough to cause communal disharmony. The accused Aqeel Khilji was behind the bars for 10 years and the acquittal orders were passed on Oct 3, the copies of which were received on Monday.
The court in its order did not find anything objectionable with the content in the material that was found from the possession of the accused.
Khilji, 41, son of Md Yusuf Khilji was booked under section 153 A of IPC and section 13 of Unlawful Activity Act. He is the resident of Gulmohar Colony in Khanwda.
Police accused him of being a member of the banned group SIMI and charge with involvement in anti-state activities.
Police had arrested Aqeel on October 1, 2001 and claimed to have seized controversial literature in Hindi and Urdu from his possession. The documents included four calendars of SIMI before 1999, pamphlet against the secular approach of former chief minister Digvijay Singh, three paper clippings about the ban against SIMI.
In his judgement on October 3, Judicial Magistrate first class, Khandwa court Laxman Singh Dodwe observed that when the court got the literature translated from Urdu to Hindi, it did not find anything objectionable with the contents. The court also observed that the content of the documents could not have caused communal disharmony.
Acquitting the accused, the court said that the police have failed to provide evidence that suggests the accused had links with the banned organisation SIMI. The court also observed that there is no evidence against the accused suggesting his involvement anti-social activities.
Chandrashekhar was the public prosecutor while Javed Chouhan represented the accused. The accused is still lodged in Khandwa jail in two other similar cases.