Qureshi back in Tihar Jail

NEW DELHI, JAN 4. The Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) leader, Hashim Qureshi, lodged in judicial custody for the 1971 hijacking of an Indian Airlines plane, was today sent back to Tihar Jail from the Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital following an improvement in his condition.

- UNI

HC seeks AG opinion on Qureshi trial

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, JAN. 4. In a new turn to the case of Mr. Mohammed Hashim Qureshi, a founder- member of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, the Delhi High Court today said it would like to hear the Attorney-General of India on whether Mr. Qureshi could be tried in India for hijacking an Indian Airlines plane in 1971 despite the fact that he had been tried and convicted in the case earlier by a Pakistani court.

The Jammu and Kashmir Government wants to prosecute Mr. Qureshi for kidnapping and robbery under the Ranbir Penal Code as well as working for Pakistani intelligence under the Enemy Agents Ordinance, 1948.

The contention of counsel for Mr. Qureshi is that his client enjoys the benefit of the bar on a second trial under Article 20(2) of the Indian Constitution as he has been convicted once in the case by a Pakistani court.

When arguments on the issue resumed before the court on Thursday, a Division Bench comprising Mr. Justice Cyriac Joseph and Mr. Justice S.N. Kapoor told Mr. Maninder Singh, Standing Counsel for the Union Government, that the case seemed to be an unprecedented one involving national interests and having international ramifications on which the court wanted the Attorney-General to assist.

``In view of the importance and ramifications of the case, the court wanted to be assisted by the Attorney-General,'' the Bench said in its order.

It requested Mr. Singh to convey the view of the court to the Attorney-General and request him to fix a suitable date for enlightening the court on the matter in the next week.

Later, Mr. K.T.S. Tulsi, appearing for Mr. Qureshi, said that his client was entitled to the Constitutional benefit of the prohibition on a second trial for the same offence.

Quoting a Supreme Court judgment, Mr. Tulsi submitted that an accused could not be tried separately for the offences which arose from the same facts, incident and transaction.

The offences - illegal confinement, kidnapping, robbery and working for the Indian intelligence - for which Mr. Qureshi was charged had arisen from the facts and incident, that of hijacking, and involved the similar transaction. He further said that various international covenants, including the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention for Suppression of Unlawful Seizure of Aircraft, to which India is a signatory, favoured his client and the court would have to take them into consideration while deciding the matter.

Mr. Qureshi is in judicial custody in the case on a Delhi court order. He was on Wednesday shifted to an intensive care unit of the Deen Dayal Upadhaya Hospital here after he complained of chest pain.

Mr. Qureshi surrendered before the Immigration authorities at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here on December 29.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Front Page
Previous : Laxman ousts Jain from party post