Delhi High Court Refuses To Entertain PIL Seeking Probe Into Organizations Allegedly Siphoning Off Covid-19 Crowdfunds For Terrorist Activities

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday refused to entertain a public interest litigation seeking probe into several foreign organizations that collected crowd funds under the garb of helping India amid the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic in April 2021 and allegedly siphoned off the same for funding terrorist activities.

The Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Navin Chawla observed that the government is cognizant of the issue and thus, no case is made out for judicial interference in the matter. It observed,

"Learned counsel the petitioner has herself tendered in Court communication received from Enforcement Directorate on 7 March 2022, requiring the petitioner to provide the relevant documents on the basis of which the petitioner has made the aforesaid claims. Counsel submits that the details have been provided to the ED. There is no reason for this court to assume that the Central government and its agencies are not alive to this problem, particularly when ED has sought the Petitioner's response."

It added that no directions are called for at this stage.

The petitioner had also sought for a direction to the Centre to formulate guidelines laying down the criteria, condition and procedure for fund-raising and to ensure continuous regulation of working of such fund raising organizations and platforms.

The counsel argued that funds were collected using the goodwill of India and donors from both India and abroad were duped and the money has been diverted to terror funding.

At the outset, the Court inquired about the issue of jurisdiction upon foreign organizations:

"These are foreign organizations. What is our jurisdiction? What can Union of India do about it?" the Court asked.

The counsel responded that these organizations have counter-parts and beneficiaries in India and several individuals and hospitals from India are also involved in the alleged illegal activities. She added that a report produced by an open source intelligence platform has been annexed with the petition as per which, funds over Rs. 309 crores were collected.

However, disinclined to interfere in the matter, the Bench said,

"It is for the donors to see who they are donating to. They have to exercise due diligence. And in case the money is diverted elsewhere, that's a breach of trust. There is sufficient law to deal with this."

The counsel submitted that representations were made to the ED and on March 7, the agency responded saying that they would like to have a record of the allegations.

Hearing this, the Bench remarked, "You yourself said ED is active. They will take it forward it they find something worthwhile. We have very good intelligence agencies. They do a very good job. There is no reason for us to think they're not doing it."

Accordingly, the petition was dismissed.

Title: MOHAMMAD ASHFAQ HUSSAIN v. NIA

Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (Del) 248