A Delhi court on Wednesday convicted Kashmiri separatist leader Asiya Andrabi and two associates in a case brought under anti-terror law, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), marking only the second conviction of a prominent separatist by a National Investigation Agency (NIA) court.

Andrabi, 62, headed the banned Kashmiri women’s group Dukhtaran-e-Millat (DeM) and was arrested in 2018 for allegedly using speeches and online platforms to promote secessionist views and incite hostility, which investigators said threatened India’s security and sovereignty. The court said a detailed order on the verdict would be issued later.

Her co-accused, Nahida Nasreen and Fahmeeda Sofi, were also convicted. All three were arrested by the NIA in 2018 from a Srinagar jail, where they were already lodged in a case registered by Jammu and Kashmir police, and have remained in custody since April that year.

In February 2021, the court framed charges including terrorism, sedition and criminal conspiracy, accusing the trio of waging war against the Indian state and conspiring to carry out terror acts. Prosecutors alleged they were part of a campaign to destabilise India and sought support from Pakistan, including links with militant groups, using social media and other platforms to spread what the agency described as hate speech and to advocate the secession of Jammu and Kashmir.

The court charged them under multiple provisions of the Indian Penal Code and the UAPA, including membership of and support to a terrorist organisation. In September 2025, it rejected an NIA request to submit additional evidence after final arguments had concluded.

An avowed separatist, Andrabi founded Dukhtaran-e-Millat in 1985 after breaking away from the women’s wing of Jamaat-e-Islami, a socio-political group later banned by the federal government. Originally a reformist organisation, DeM rose to prominence in the early 1990s, including through campaigns to enforce the veil in the Kashmir Valley. The government designated it a terrorist organisation and banned it in 2018.

Born in 1963 and educated in home science, Andrabi married Ashiq Hussain Faktoo, also known as Mohammad Qasim, a former militant commander who is serving a life sentence. A mother of two, she was first arrested in 1993 and detained repeatedly over the years under preventive detention laws.

The NIA said Andrabi and her associates were involved in offences ranging from criminal conspiracy and sedition to promoting enmity between communities and inciting public disorder. After her arrest, the agency attached her Srinagar house in 2019, the first such action taken against a separatist leader.

Following her detention and a broader federal crackdown on separatist groups in the region, Dukhtaran-e-Millat has become largely defunct. Andrabi’s conviction follows that of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front chairman Yasin Malik, reinforcing New Delhi’s hard line against separatist leaders in the disputed Himalayan region.