Mumbai, Oct 8 In an unusual courtroom drama that unfolded here, a man held in an ISIS module case, on Thursday threatened the presiding judge and also expressed lack of respect for the existing government as well as judiciary.
Following his outburst, the court directed that the accused be produced only through video conference until further orders, and said he was "merely pretending to have mental issues so as to evade trial proceedings".
The accused, Tabis Sidique, who was arrested in 2023, upon being produced before the special National Investigation Agency (NIA) judge Abhay Joglekar, started misbehaving, asking the name of the court.
Sidique said that he has "no respect for the existing government".
As per the court records, the accused used "filthy language" against the judiciary and said he has "no respect for the court".
Continuing the outburst, Sidique threatened the judge that he would "look upon" him and his family.
The court condemned the conduct of the accused, saying it was "highly deprecated".
After reviewing the medical records of the accused, the court noted that the psychological test of the accused was conducted at the state-run J J Hospital and reports "categorically enumerate no major mental illness at present".
Thus it is clearly gathered that the accused "is merely pretending to have mental issues so as to evade trial proceedings", the court said.
Siddique was among the seven accused held by the NIA in July 2023 during multiple raids in the state in the ISIS module case.
According to the NIA, the accused allegedly had active links with Islamic State and they were trying to motivate vulnerable youth to propagate the terror organization's anti-India agenda.
The central probe agency claimed to have recovered incriminating material, including electronic gadgets and documents related to the terror organisation, and also found social media posts during the searches conducted at the houses of the accused.
The material seized clearly exposed the strong and active linkages of the accused with ISIS and their efforts to motivate vulnerable youth to further the terror organisation's anti-India agenda, the NIA has said.
