SC dismissed the bail application filed by Mehdi Masroor Biswas

Team Udayavani, Jul 4, 2017, 5:14 PM IST

Bengaluru: The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed the bail application filed by software engineer Mehdi Masroor Biswas who was arrested by the Bengaluru police in December 2014 for running a pro-IS Twitter handle.

A bench of Justices Adarsh Kumar Goel and U U Lalit rejected the petition filed through advocate Farukh Rasheed. It, however, directed that the trial against Biswas be completed within six months. 

Biswas, who hails from West Bengal, worked with a multi-national company in Bengaluru. He is accused of running @ShamiWitness, an IS propaganda handle on Twitter. 

His counsel submitted that the case, initially registered by the Bengaluru police, had been transferred to the National Investigation Agency (NIA). The NIA special court has framed charges against Biswas under the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act and other penal provisions, including sedition. The counsel submitted that the trial in the matter had been delayed with just one witness being examined so far, and asked for releasing the accused on bail.