A division bench of Justices Prathiba M Singh and Vikas Mahajan condoned the delay in filing the appeals and issued notice to the NIA. Andrabi, founder and chief of the banned separatist organisation Dukhtaran-e-Millat (DeM), was convicted along with her associates Nahida Nasreen, the outfit’s general secretary, and Sofi Fehmeeda, its press secretary, by a special NIA court in January this year. On March 24, the trial court sentenced Andrabi to life imprisonment, while Nasreen and Fehmeeda were awarded 30 years in jail each. The agency claimed the trio maintained contacts with proscribed terrorist organisations and worked to radicalise people in support of separatist objectives. Founded by Andrabi in 1987, Dukhtaran-e-Millat emerged as an all-women separatist organisation in Kashmir and was banned under the UAPA.