New Delhi, Jan 21 (IANS): The Delhi High Court on Friday issued notice to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on a plea by a Hyderabad native, arrested for his alleged links to the ISIS, who claimed being a minor at the time of his joing the terrorist organistaion.

Hearing the plea filed by the suspect Abdul Qadeer, a division bench of Justice Siddharth Mridul and Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani directed the probe agency to file its response in the matter by February 2.

Qadeer's counsel Advocate Mohammed Mobin Akhtar said his client had been in custody following his arrest on August 12, 2018. He argued that the trial in the case would take a very long time to complete.

Opposing this, Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Akshai Malik, on behalf of NIA, said nine witnesses supported the prosecution's case and the trial court has examined all of them.

Earlier, the same bench had given the direction while hearing the petition filed by Abdul Qadeer challenging a January 29, 2021 decision of the Special NIA Court in the national capital rejecting his plea to transfer his case to the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) as he was a minor when he joined the terrorist organisation.

Qadeer's lawyer earlier claimed that his client's date of birth is November 25, 1999, and he was 19 years old at that time.