A day after the defence lawyers in the 7/11 serial blasts case withdrew their appearance in court, one of the 13 arrested accused, Asif Khan Bashir Khan alias Junaid, on Tuesday himself argued for the transfer of the case from the court of Special Judge Mrudula Bhatkar to any other Special MCOCA court.

Citing reasons for his argument, Junaid—an alleged key conspirator behind the blasts which killed 187 people—said before the Principal Judge of the sessions court that Judge Bhatkar “does not inspire confidence”. On August 10, Junaid and the other accused had sent an application to the Principal Judge seeking transfer of the case, citing this as one of the reasons.

On Monday, all the accused filed an application in the Special MCOCA court seeking the discharge of their advocates, as they (the accused) did not want to participate in the legal proceedings. Defence lawyer Prakash Shetty said: “We (the defence lawyers in the case) have withdrawn our appearance.”

On Tuesday, when Junaid sought to argue on behalf of the other accused, Principal Judge Ashok Bhangale said that “others will be called to argue their cases”, and ordered the production of all 13 accused in the court on Wednesday. Special Public Prosecutor Raja Thakre will argue the prosecution’s case.

Junaid also alleged that Judge Bhatkar proceeded to frame charges against them (the accused) in spite of them pointing out there were four applications pending in court, including the one in which they have pleaded for a transfer of case to another court.

... contd.