Court sends 7 foreigners to 30-day judicial custody

A Delhi court on Monday sent seven foreign nationals, including six Ukrainians, accused of breaching national security, to 30 days in judicial custody.

The foreign nationals were produced before NIA Special Judge Prashant Sharma after the completion of their NIA custody.

On March 16, the court had allowed 11 days of custody to the federal agency for interrogation, which was then extended by another 10 days.

On Monday, the judge allowed the NIA’s plea seeking judicial custody of the accused, identified as US national Matthew Aaron Van Dyke and Ukrainian nationals Hurba Petro, Slyviak Taras, Ivan Sukmanovskyi, Stefankiv Marian, Honcharuk Maksim, and Kaminskyi Viktor.

In the remand application on March 16, the investigation officer, citing the FIR, said that some Ukrainians had entered India on tourist visas on separate dates and flew to Guwahati, from where they travelled to Mizoram without obtaining the requisite documents, such as the Restricted Area Permit or Protected Area Permit.

Thereafter, these individuals illegally entered Myanmar to impart pre-scheduled training for Ethnic Armed Organisations (EAO) in that country, the IO said.

In its order allowing NIA custody, the court said the allegations made in the FIR should not be seen in a piecemeal manner.

“No doubt the FIR in question talks about the accused persons travelling to Mizoram, which is a prohibited area, without permission and thereafter crossing over to Myanmar illegally. But it also mentions that the accused persons, linked to Ethnic Armed Organisations (in Myanmar), are (also) supporting certain proscribed Indian insurgent groups by supplying weapons and terrorist hardware and imparting training to them,” the order said.

It said these allegations definitely involved national security and the country’s interests, and broadly attract Section 18 (punishment for conspiracy) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.