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Mumbai: The Supreme Court restored a ban on a Muslim group accused of deadly bomb attacks, media reports said on Wednesday, only a day after the ban was lifted by a lower court.
A tribunal of the Delhi High Court had lifted the ban on the Students' Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) on Tuesday, saying there was no evidence to brand it an unlawful organisation.
But the Supreme Court overruled the tribunal yesterday while it examined the verdict, the Press Trust of India reported.
SIMI was banned in 2001. Since then it has been blamed by police for almost every major bomb attack in the country, including explosions on commuter trains in Mumbai two years ago which killed 187 people.
The group is also being investigated over bombings in Gujarat which killed 45 people last month.
SIMI had earlier this year challenged the ban, which has been extended three times since 2001. The government had requested an extension of the curbs by another two years, and it was this request that was rejected by the Delhi tribunal.
Path of holy struggle
SIMI was launched in 1977 as an offshoot of the Jamaat-e-Islami-Hind, a moderate religious and social organisation with a strong network of members and scholars across the country.
It stated that the Koran was its constitution, jihad to protect Islam its path and martyrdom its desire.
The group attracted little attention until 2001, when the then ruling Hindu nationalist government banned it, blaming it for inciting religious hatred and riots.
Many SIMI activists were detained and others went underground after the ban.
Security officials say some were pushed into the folds of insurgents in Kashmir and crossed over to Pakistan for training in camps run by militant groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba.
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