Kolkata: Calcutta High Court on Friday refused bail to an ISIS sympathiser from Howrah citing security concerns and holding that he did not merely “possess” such literature but was also found to be instigating youth to join “suicide squad”.Saddam Mallick alias Abdul Mallick (28) allegedly had videos “planning to kill Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the US President Donald Trump” on his electronic devices as well as chats with gory videos showing beheaded bodies amongst others. His counsel argued that merely having such materials on his devices is not enough proof to incriminate him under UAPA and does not constitute any offence without there being an overt act that would point towards a terrorist act in any form.The accused approached the division bench of Justice Arijit Banerjee and Justice Apurba Sinha Ray for being in custody for three years and four months with no chance of an early conclusion of the trial.He was arrested on Jan 6, 2023, pleaded for bail on the account that there was no change of early conclusion of trial as out of 52 chargesheet witnesses, only three have been examined. The chargesheet was filed on July 4, 2023 and charge was framed on August 14, 2025. The accused filed a discharge application which, being rejected by the trial judge.“Undoubtedly, the accused has the right to file an application for discharge but knowing fully well that disposal of such application will take some time in view of the workload of the Courts, he filed the discharge application and consequently, the examination of the prosecution witnesses was halted. We do not find any intentional laches from the side of the prosecution to prolong the trial,” the division bench held.The NIA counsel, opposing the bail, submitted that Mallick was not just a passive ISIS supporter but actively involved in recruitment and radicalisation of Muslim youths, dissemination of ISIS propaganda, administration and use of clandestine Telegram groups for sending recruits to Afghanistan/Khorasan for terrorist training in making discussion with regard to target killings and attacks against identified persons and institutions.The extraction report from the electronic device shows that he was in communication with entities operating from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Syria and other foreign jurisdictions.The allegation is that Mallick was radicalised by Abdul Raqib Qureshi and thereafter, he has radicalised the key witness Farhan.Mallick’s counsel also argued that the accusation against him was that he is an ISIS sympathiser and incriminating materials were found in the mobile phones and laptops of the accused. Another person–Farhan–also had the same materials recovered from him but he was made a ‘sterling’ witness by the prosecution, the counsel argued.But the HC viewed that Farhan was a student who came to Howrah for studies and it was Mallick who tried to indoctrinate the Islamic extremist ideologies and for that purpose he sent such materials to Farhan’s phone. Mallick and Farhan do not stand on the same footing, the HC held.“The matter concerns the security of the country. As there are sufficient materials on record indicating the overt acts on the part of the applicant in committing the offences that he has been charged with, we are constrained to say that the accusation against the applicant appears to be prima facie true at least at the present stage of the proceedings,” the division bench held.END
