An Ahmedabad sessions court, Gujarat on August 27 acquitted all nine persons charged for conspiring with Pakistan’s ISI and other terrorist outfits in order to avenge the atrocities committed against the Muslims during the 2002 riots. The court found no evidence to support any of the charges. After registering a case for terror conspiracy in 2003, the city crime branch under now-jailed D.G. Vanzara had nabbed 56 persons for allegedly conspiring at the behest of terror groups. The special anti-terror law, Pota was invoked against them. This was an umbrella case that covered five riot reprisal cases, including Haren Pandya murder. However, two persons were discharged on the ground of double jeopardy. The Central Pota Review Committee (CPRC) in 2005 recommended dropping of terror charges against 10 persons, and a separate trial came to be initiated against them after the Supreme Court’s order in 2008 holding that CPRC recommendations are binding for trial courts.
In August last year, charges were framed against Mohammed Abdul Bari, Iftekharul Hassan Hashmi, Mohammed Shafiuddin Yusufali, Abdul Rahim Hanafi Muslim, Mufti Saeed Akbar (all from Hyderabad), advocate Mohammed Ali, Javed Khan, Maulvi Abdul Hussain Mansuri, senior advocate HN Jhala from Ahmedabad and Ashraf Nagori from Surat. Advocate Jhala passed away during pendency of the trial.
Interestingly, this is the fifth case tried for terrorism charges, wherein the courts have acquitted the accused. On the other hand, the special Pota court convicted 22 persons and acquitted 22 others in the same case in January this year.