Mohd. Jalees Shafiullah Ansari vs State Of Maharashtra

The Supreme Court upheld the conviction of the appellant under Section 3(2)(ii) and Section 5 of the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, 1987 (TADA Act), based on the presumption in Section 21(1)(b) that arises when an expert proves the presence of the accused's fingerprints at the crime scene. The Court found that the appellant failed to rebut this presumption, leading to a sentence of 10 years' rigorous imprisonment and a fine for the first conviction, and 5 years' imprisonment and a fine for the second. The appeals filed by the State against the acquittal of co-accused were dismissed due to a significant delay in filing.