NIA court awards life imprisonment to Asiya Andrabi

Srinagar, Mar 24: A special court of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in New Delhi on Tuesday awarded life imprisonment to Dukhtaran-e-Millat chief, Asiya Andrabi while two of her aides, Sofi Fehmeeda and Nahida Nasreen, were sentenced to 30 years in prison each.
The quantum of sentence was announced after her conviction on January 14, 2026 under several sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
In a statement, a NIA spokesman said, “The special NIA court has sentenced three operatives of the proscribed Dukhtaran-e-Millat (DeM) terrorist organisation to imprisonment in connection with a 2018 Kashmir secession conspiracy case.”
“The DeM is an all-women outfit with the declared objective of achieving secession of Kashmir from India. Aasiya Andrabi @ Aasiyeh Andrabi @Syedah Aasiya, the founder and Chairperson of Dukhtaran-E-Millat, has been sentenced to life imprisonment, while her accomplices, Sofi Fehmeeda and Nahida Nasreen, have been awarded 30 years in jail, along with fine. The three women were arrested in July 2018 by NIA, which had registered a suo moto case (RC-17/2018/NIA/DLI) in April 2018,” the statement said, adding,
“The accused, all hailing from Kashmir, were earlier, in January 2026, convicted by the trial court at Karkardooma, Delhi, under Sections 18, 38 and 39 of the UA(P) Act and Sections 153A, 153B, 120B, 121A and 505 IPC. The Court had found the three accused guilty of actively operating DeM to promote the separation of Jammu & Kashmir from the Union of India.”
“As per the judgement pronounced today, Aasiya has been sentenced concurrently under various sections of IPC and UA(P) Act to the maximum sentence of Life Imprisonment and a total fine of Rs. 8 lakh. She was married to Ashiq Hussain Faktoo, a terrorist of the proscribed Hizbul Mujahideen organisation, who is serving life imprisonment in connection with the killing of H.N. Wanchoo, a prominent human rights activist. She is additionally named in 32 other FIRs registered at various police stations in Jammu & Kashmir,” the NIA spokesman said, adding, “Nahida Nasreen, General Secretary of DeM, and Sofi Fehmeeda, the outfit’s Press Secretary, have each been convicted and sentenced concurrently under different provisions of IPC and UA(P) Act, with a maximum of 30 years of Simple Imprisonment and a total fine of Rs. 7 lakh each. While Sofi Fehmeeda has eight other cases registered against her, Nahida Nasreen has four.”
“All three had been chargesheeted by NIA in November 2018 on the basis of extensive examination of various incriminating materials, including social media chats, videos and media interviews of the accused. The investigation had clearly established the accused’s active role in supporting and furthering DeM’s terrorist and secessionist activities,” the spokesman said, adding, “NIA’s investigation had further revealed that the accused had used various social media and public platforms to spread hate, and incite violence and jihad, with the aim of seceding J&K from India, thereby threatening the integrity, security, and sovereignty of the nation.” (KNO)