The Supreme Court on Friday sentenced Yasmeen Zahid to seven years in jail in the ISIS recruitment case. In enhancing the jail to seven years, the SC has restored the NIA court order while setting aside the Kerala High Court which had reduced her sentence to three years.

The judgment was pronounced by a bench of Justices UU Lalit and Indu Malhotra.

Zahid, was arrested from the Delhi Airport on July 30, 2016 just before leaving for Kabul along with her child. Last year, a NIA special court in Kochi  had sentenced Zahid, a native of Bihar, to seven-year imprisonment in the Kerala Islamic State recruitment case. The court had also imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 on her. The case pertains to the illegal migration of 15 persons from Kasaragod in Kerala to Afghanistan in 2016 for joining the Islamic State. The NIA, which filed a chargesheet in the case in January last year, had arraigned the woman as the second accused.

The case was tried by a Special NIA Court which convicted her under various provisions of IPC and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (UAPA).

She appealed to the Kerala High Court against the verdict of NIA court. The Kerala High Court partially allowed the appeal.

—India Legal Bureau