Supreme Court Dismisses Plea Seeking Removal of Ban on SIMI

The Supreme Court Refused a set of pleas challenging the ban imposed on the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).  A Bench of Justices SK Kaul and Sudhanshu Dhulia, asked the lawyer of SIMI to approach the court after the Constitution Bench hearing on Article 370.

SIMI’s Advocates stated that the matter was last heard on January 18 but has not been listed for a hearing since then. The bench said that the Constitution bench will commence hearings on Article 370 next week and requested the lawyer to mention the SIMI case after that.

Previously, the Centre informed the apex court that, ‘allowing the SIMI’s objective in India’ is not acceptable. It argued that members of the banned outfit continue to engage in disruptive activities that pose a threat to the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

In a counter-affidavit submitted to the court, the Centre asserted that SIMI activists maintain regular contact with their associates and leaders in other countries, and their actions could disrupt peace and communal harmony in India. The affidavit also pointed out that the SIMI aims to mobilize students and youngsters to support “jihad” (religious war) and propagate Islam.

The government produced evidence indicating that despite being banned since September 27, 2001, the SIMI activists persist in associating, conspiring, acquiring arms, and engaging in disruptive activities, which pose a threat to India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. SIMI has contacts in several countries, including Pakistan, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, and Nepal. It is influenced and used by fundamentalist, Radical Islamic terrorist organizations operating in Jammu and Kashmir.

The SIMI originated on April 25, 1977, in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, as an organization of students and youngsters with faith in the Jamaat-e-Islami-Hind (JEIH). In 1993, it declared itself an independent entity.

The counter-affidavit was filed in response to a plea challenging the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Tribunal’s order passed on July 29, 2019, which confirmed the SIMI’s declaration as an unlawful association under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) extended the ban on the SIMI for five years through a notification dated January 31, 2019. The organization had been previously banned in 2001, and this was the eighth extension of the ban.