Delhi HC junks early release plea of man convicted for abducting foreigners in 1994

The Delhi High Court has rejected a plea for the early release of a man convicted for his involvement in kidnapping four foreign nationals to pressurise the government into releasing jailed militants.

For his role in the kidnappings in 1994, Mr Sodozey was given the death penalty, which was commuted to a life term by the Supreme Court in 2003. He had executed the offence under the banner of the proscribed terrorist organisation Harqat-ul-Ansar.

The High Court concurred with a 2023 decision of the Sentence Review Board that rejected Nasir Mohd. Sodozey alias Aftaab Ahmed’s plea seeking an early release from jail on the ground that he has undergone incarceration for over 26 years.

The court said prolonged incarceration is a relevant factor and the reviewing authority must weigh it but it cannot prevail over the larger interests of society where the underlying crime was designed to destabilise the State and spread fear among its citizens and international visitors.

‘Intent to compel government’

“The petitioner, in concert with his co-conspirators, abducted and held captive four foreign nationals, not for private gain or personal animosity, but with the intent of compelling the sovereign Government of India to yield to the demands of a militant organisation…,” the court said in its August 21 judgment.

“Such conduct is not merely an ordinary crime but an attack upon the very fabric of civil order, striking at the rule of law and the security of the State. The broader objective, employing fear and intimidation to secure political ends, marks this case apart from conventional offences, placing it in a category of exceptional gravity,” Justice Sanjeev Narula said.

The convict argued that the maximum prescribed term of incarceration, inclusive of remissions, is capped at 25 years and thus, having already completed more than 26 years, he satisfied the threshold and ought to have been positively considered for release.

The police opposed the plea citing the convict’s past association with Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, one of the principal conspirators in the 1994 kidnappings. Sheikh was subsequently released after the organisation hijacked the Indian Airlines IC-814 flight in 1999.

The court said the release of Sheikh, under extreme duress and in exchange for hostages, stood as a reminder of the far-reaching consequences of the conspiracy in which the petitioner was involved.