New Delhi, 12 March (H.S.): The Supreme Court granted bail to jailed Kashmiri separatist leader Shabbir Shah in a terror funding case, with a bench led by Justice Vikram Nath approving the release.During hearings, the court questioned the National Investigation Agency's (NIA) reliance on Shah's inflammatory speeches from 1990, noting they were unearthed only in 2019 and deemed over three decades old, thus lacking recency.

NIA counsel Siddharth Luthra had cited transcripts and videos, prompting Justice Nath's remark that these were no fresh provocations.Shah's advocate Colin Gonsalves highlighted his client's serious illness, the completed investigation, filed chargesheet—where Shah's name was absent in the initial supplementary—and an anticipated lengthy trial involving 400 witnesses.

The apex court had issued notice to NIA on September 4, 2025, after Delhi High Court rejected bail on June 12, 2025.Currently lodged in Tihar Jail for terror funding and money laundering cases—the latter registered in 2007 with arrest by ED in July 2017—Shah's relief underscores prolonged detention concerns.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar