India-SIMI Ban-Supreme Court
India's Apex court stayed a Delhi High Court's order to lift a ban on Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).

According to media reports, a petition challenging the High Court's special tribunal verdict was placed before a bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan Wednesday, which agreed with the Center that lifting the ban was not in the national interest.

The apex court also issued a notice to SIMI and posted the matter for hearing after three weeks.

Earlier, a specially designated tribunal of the Delhi High Court, headed by Justice Geeta Mittal had said that there was no fresh evidence to justify the extension of the ban on SIMI that was first imposed in 2001.

According to Judge Mittal, the Government had only come out with evidence of the Malegaon blast in 2006 to show the organization's complicity in unlawful activities, and said that this was not sufficient to issue a notification to ban it.

The ban was imposed on SIMI under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, and since then, it has been extended after every two years.

The Student Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), was formed at Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, in 1977. Mohammad Ahmadullah Siddiqi, now a professor of journalism and public relations at Western Illinois University, Macomb, USA, was its founding president.

Indian authorities (federal and several state governments) frequently charge that SIMI is involved in terrorist activities.

SIMI has been accused of carrying out bombing campaigns across India resulting in loss of lives.

SIMI was first banned on September 27, 2001 immediately after the bombing of twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York, USA on September 11, 2001.