Gujarat HC upholds POTA court’s verdict,death penalty to three

The HC confirmed the death sentences of Shan Miyan alias Chand Khan from Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh,and Adam Ajmeri and Mufti Abdul Qayyum Mansuri from Ahmedabad.

The other three who have been slapped with sentences are Mohammed Salim Shaikh,Abdul Miyan Qadr·both residents of Ahmedabad’s Dariapur area· and Shahpur resident Altaf Hussain Malek.

On July 1,2006,Designated POTA Judge Sonia Gokani had sentenced Mohammed Salim Shaikh to life imprisonment,while Abdul Miya Qadri and Altaf Hussain Malek were handed down 10-year and five-year sentences respectively. Following the judgment by the Special POTA Court,the six accused had filed an appeal in the HC against their conviction. The state government had,at the same time,approached the HC to get the mandatory confirmation of death penalty awarded to the three accused.

Since April 25,2008,the judgment was kept reserved by the Division Bench. In November last year,the convicts had also moved a petition praying pronouncement of the judgment.

Special public prosecutor J M Panchal and additional public prosecutors Umesh Trivedi and K J Panchal had appeared before the HC on behalf of the state government. Panchal told mediapersons after the verdict that the court took serious note of the fact that the accused,despite fully knowing the gravity of their acts,had provided logistical support and aid to the terrorists to carry out the bloody attack.

He also said that the court has accepted the confessional statements of five of the accused under the provisions of POTA and corroborative evidence put forward by the prosecution.

Panchal said that in its judgment,the HC has considered the fact that the convicts are Indian citizens. “However,the court also did not ignore the fact that the convicts participated in anti-national activity with full knowledge of its consequences.”

On September 24,2002,two armed Pakistani militants belonging to the Laskhar-e-Toiba (LeT),stormed the Akshardham Temple,which is run by the Akshar Purshottam Swaminarayan Sansthan. They lobbed grenades and opened indiscriminate fire on devotees in the temple premises.

Twenty-nine visitors,two National Security Guard (NSG) commandos and two state commandos were killed and 81 people injured in the attack. NSG commandos,after a nightlong gun battle,killed the terrorists,identified as Murtuza Hafiz Yasin (code name Doctor 2) and Ashrafali Mohammed Farooq (Doctor 3). The militants were connected to Tehreeq-e-Qasas,a wing of the LeT. There were 34 accused (including the two militants who were killed) in the case,of whom the police arrested only six. The main accused,Abu Hamza,is still absconding.

The then Assistant Commissioner of Police G L Singhal,now posted as Superintendent of Police at Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad,had investigated the case.

Media shunted out of courtroom
The media was kept out from the courtroom during the verdict pronouncement on Tuesday even though it was admitted in the courtroom during the hearing earlier. Court officials ordered mediapersons sitting inside the courtroom to move out,saying they had orders from the court. It maybe mentioned that the special POTA court had also allowed the media inside the courtroom during the pronouncement of verdict in July 2006. The trial then was held inside the high-security Sabarmati Central Jail in Ahmedabad.