The Hindu : National : 'No misuse of POTA in Ghatkopar blasts case'

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Thursday, Jun 10, 2004

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National

'No misuse of POTA in Ghatkopar blasts case'

By Our Special Correspondent

MUMBAI, JUNE 9 . The Central Review Committee on POTA does not find prima facie misuse of the provision of the Act with respect to eight persons accused in the Ghatkopar blasts case in the city on December 2, 2002.

The three-member panel headed by Justice Arun B. Saharya, in its order dated May 29, said it had received several complaints expressing grievances over the application of POTA from 11 persons accused in the Ghatkopar blasts case. Earlier, it had disposed of two applications, that of Irfan Ahmed Qureshi and Zahir Sheikh, and, in both cases, it felt that there was no prima facie case under POTA. Regarding the case of Syed Khwaja Yunus, the panel said there was a serious controversy. One version was that he escaped from police custody on January 7, 2003 while the other was that he was tortured and had died in police custody. The High Court had directed that an FIR be registered by the State CID for investigation of the alleged custodial death of Yunus. In these circumstances, the panel did not consider it appropriate to take up the case relating to Yunus.

In the remaining eight cases, it held hearings in Mumbai on several occasions and took a decision based on available material. The report said that some of the points raised on behalf of the accused might indicate procedural shortcomings in investigation. Also, counsel for the accused had pointed out breach of safeguards on the part of the police who recorded confessional statements. However, in such cases, the further safeguard of proceedings before the magistrate was found fulfilled in terms of POTA provisions.

The culpability of two of the accused, Abdul Matin and Sheikh Muzamil Jamil, in view of the available evidence, would also be an important aspect of the case for trial in court. It would therefore not be appropriate for the Review Committee to comment upon any of these points at this stage, the report said.

In view of the entirety of the available material, the panel does not find prima facie misuse of the provisions of POTA in respect of the eight persons accused in the Ghatkopar blasts and their complaints were rejected.

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