The Supreme Court on 18 July acquitted all the 11 people convicted for January and April 1993 bomb blasts in Gujarat’s Surat in which an eight-year-old child was killed and several people were injured. A bench of Justice T.S. Thakur and Justice C. Nagappan said: “The requirement of a mandatory statutory provision having been violated, the trial and conviction of the petitioners for offences under the (now repealed Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act) TADA must be held to have been vitiated on that account.”
The investigating agency did not take the prior permission of the district police chief before recording information for offences under TADA which was mandatory and could not be waived, the court said in its judgment.
INDIAN AMERICANS HAIL SC’S ACQUITTAL OF INNOCENTS IN SURAT 1993 BOMB BLASTS CASE
The Indian American Muslim Council, an advocacy group dedicated to safeguarding India’s pluralist and tolerant ethos, has lauded the landmark Supreme Court judgment acquitting the 11 innocent people accused of having carried out the bomb blasts in Surat (Gujarat) in 1993, while decrying the miscarriage of justice that led to their convictions by the lower courts in Gujarat.
The unravelling of the Surat case comes on the heels of the judgement in the Akshardham case, in which the Supreme Court acquitted all six accused, including three that had been sentenced to death by the Gujarat High Court. In the case of the Akshardham accused, justice was served after they had spent 10 years of their lives in prison, for a crime they had not committed.
IAMC has called on the civil society institutions to join hands and struggle for reform in both the police and judiciary, in order to uphold Constitutional guarantees of human rights and justice for all, regardless of caste, creed, gender, or ethnic origin.
COURT ACQUITS FOUR ACCUSED IN MECCA MASJID BLAST CASE
The 4th Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge on 17 July acquitted four persons accused in a criminal conspiracy and fake passport case that was registered by the Special Investigation Cell (SIC) in connection with the Mecca Masjid bomb blast case of 2007. The acquittal followed seven years of trial. On 26 June, 2007, sleuths of Special Investigation Cell (SIC) that was constituted to probe into the 18 May, 2007 blast arrested Shoeb Jagirdar, a kerosene dealer from Jalna, Maharashtra. He was accused of helping an alleged Lashkar-e-Taiba activist Sheikh Abdul Nayeem alias Sameer of Aurangabad in securing a passport by fraudulent means from Hyderabad. After a prolonged trial the session judge concluded that there was no evidence to convict the accused. He acquitted all of them.
DGP REPORT TALKS OF ‘TRUST DEFICIT’
A first-ever report prepared by the Directors General of Police of Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu says this perception of communalism could affect internal security in the long run. The DGP report is based on police and intelligence inputs received from across the country, their own interactions with Muslims, and an analysis of articles written by Muslims or published in the community’s publications. Their research points to a widening chasm between the Indian law enforcement system and Indian Muslims.
The report, titled ‘Strategy for making police forces more sensitive towards minority sections’, is startlingly candid. Touching upon scars left behind by incidents from Partition to the Ram Janmabhoomi agitation to subsequent riots, it says that any place with a minority population over 15 per cent has become communally charged, vulnerable to rioting.
Prepared by three DGPs – Sanjeev Dayal of Maharashtra, Deoraj Nagar of Uttar Pradesh and K Ramanujam of Tamil Nadu and one IB representative – the report says the trust deficit among Muslims comes from “poor representation of minorities in the forces and the conduct of some policemen during riots”.
CASE REGISTERED AGAINST HMK CHIEF FOR HATE SPEECH
Variety Hall Road Police of Maharashtra on 15 July registered a case against the president of Hindu Makkal Katchi (HMK) Arjun Sampath. Police said that a few days ago, the party’s State Propaganda Secretary J. Jagadeeswar was booked for his alleged hate speech against a minority community at a meeting that was organised at Uthanda Mariamman Temple on 11 July.
“Jagadeeswar was booked under section 153(A) (promoting enmity between different groups on religious grounds) of the Indian Penal Code based on a complaint preferred by Inspector (in-charge) of the Police Station, Bala Murali Sundaram. Arjun Sampath was booked under the same section for organising the meeting. The step was taken as directed by the Commissioner of Police, Coimbatore City,” the police said.
BRING BACK TRANSFERRED JUDGE: SOHRABUDDIN BROTHER TO HC
Rubabbuddin, brother of Sohrabuddin who was killed in a fake encounter, wants judge J. T. Utpat back as the trial judge in his brother’s case. He has written a letter to the Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court seeking revocation of his transfer. Further, on the application of the complainant seeking a stay on court proceedings till the High Court decides something on his letter, the Sessions Court has adjourned the hearing of this case for two weeks, reports said on 18 July.
Due to this application, the court has kept in abeyance all bail and discharge applications filed by accused including BJP leader Amit Shah in the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case after the complainant requested the court to stay the court proceedings and not to hear these applications till the High Court decides something on the letter written by him seeking revocation of transfer of the judge who was presiding over this court earlier.
COMMUNAL CLASHES BREAK OUT IN VADODARA
Communal clashes marred Friday evening in Vadodara and went on until late in the night as two communities clashed in different parts of the city. While the police downplayed the incident, six tear gas shells were fired with locals claiming that mobs from both communities clashed right after the Maghrib Salat in the area.
The incident began at about 7.30 pm on Friday, in Panigate, when a motorcycle rider, belonging to one community allegedly got into a scuffle with a group of another community. Gadinaseen Haji Dastagir Shaikh from the communally sensitive Juni Gadi area of Panigate in the city said that the argument soon turned into a full-blown communal clash as mobs from both communities began pelting stones.
DELHI POLICE PLANTED CHIP IN MY BODY: TERROR ACCUSED
A local court on 16 July ordered medical checkup of a terror suspect after he accused the Delhi police of having inserted chips in his body. The Delhi police had arrested Abdur Rehman in May 2008 and later transferred him to Lucknow in connection with a separate case after he was acquitted of planning to trigger serial blasts.
Additional sessions judge BL Kesarwani ordered jail authorities to ensure Rehman’s medical check by a surgeon and radiologist. He directed the jail superintendent and senior superintendent of police, Lucknow, to provide adequate safety and security at the time of the checkup.
REMOTE BAKSA TURNS INTO ASSAM’S KILLING FIELDS
As Baksa crawls back to normal life with the arrest of five persons, including a woman, in connection with Friday’s killings, security agencies are worried that the district, one of the newest in the state, is fast becoming Assam’s killing fields. In Guwahati, the state Home department has listed six reasons that make Baksa vulnerable. These include inaccessible jungles, including Manas National Park that is contiguous to Royal Manas National Park of Bhutan on the other side, shortage of police personnel on the ground, and presence of villagers inside forests.
“Baksa is Assam’s new killing fields. There’s hardly a week when you don’t get news of abduction, killing or a person going missing,” said Jamsher Ali, convenor of BTAD Citizens’ Forum. “At least 55 persons have been killed by militants this year, and all of them, barring one, were from the minority community,” added Ali.