The Centre justified its decision before a tribunal to extend the ban on the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) saying such an action is needed to bring the Muslim community to the national mainstream by checking its "disgruntled" elements. "There has been substantial increase in Muslim population and also in (their) getting opportunity in various public sectors but because of some disgruntled elements are propagating, spreading rumours of government discriminating against them. Hence, this ban is justified to bring Muslim in the mainstream," Additional Solicitor General A S Chandhiok said.
Chandhiok made the submission before a tribunal, headed by a Delhi High Court judge Justice Sanjiv Khanna, which is hearing on the legality of Centre's decision to extend the ban for the fifth time. The Centre contended that there has been sufficient evidence to prove that SIMI has been operating in the country despite being banned in 2001. The government had on February 5 had extended the ban on SIMI, the fifth since 2001, by two years from February seven under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.
SIMI was outlawed for the first time in September 2001 for its involvement in terrorist acts and the ban was extended in 2003 and 2006. The last ban on SIMI, formed in April 1977 as a youth wing of terror outfit Jamaat Islami-e-Hind, was extended for two years on February 8, 2008. In its notification, the Home Ministry had declared SIMI as an "unlawful association indulging in activities prejudicial to the security of the country" and with "potential of disturbing peace and communal harmony and disrupting the secular fabric of the country". The group is alleged to have close links with Pakistan-based terror outfits, particularly the Lashkar-e-Tayiba and the Jaish- e-Mohammad.
