By Muslim Mirror News,
Mumbai, May 16: They were arrested in September-October 2008 allegedly for being members of banned terror group Indian Mujahideen and sending terror email on its behalf. Over four and half years have passed but charges have not yet been framed against Asif Bashir Shiekh, Akbar Choudhry and Mubeen Kadar Shiekh, and thus trial has not yet started. From Taloja jail in Mumbai, they have written to principal judge of a sessions court seeking speedy trial of their cases.
Based on their letter, Jamiat-Ulama-e-Maharashtra, an NGO that is providing free legal aid to the accused, filed an application with principal sessions judge Swapna Joshi to expedite their trial. The accused, in an application sent from Taloja jail, said they are “languishing in a miserable, abandoned and untried state since the last four and half years”.
Hearing the petition on 15th May, Judge Swapna Joshi asked the detection crime branch (DCB) of the CID to reply to the application by May 17.
In the application the accused said: “inordinate and unjustified delay in the trial has almost defeated the purpose of absolute justice and already beaten the very objective of setting up a special designated court to try the offence under the MCOC Act of 1999”.
According to Jamiat’s lawyer Adv. Shahid Nadeem Ansari, the trial of the three is scheduled to commence in the special of Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court of Judge Y D Shinde but the applicant said Judge Shinde has said that he will not proceed with the IM case due to overburdening of other cases on him. The special court is also busy with other trials, such as the 7/11 serial train blast case and the 2008 Malegaon blast case. The chargesheet in the 2006 Malegaon blast is likely to be filed by the National Investigation Agency in the same court.
The three accused were among 23 people arrested in September-October 2008 as they were suspected to be IM members. Four months later, 15 of them were suspected to be involved in a terror attack in Ahmedabad. On February 17, 2009, a chargesheet was filed by the DCB, CID Mumbai but there was no further development in that case. Meanwhile, in June 2009, the Ahmedabad Crime Branch took the 15 accused into custody and took them to Ahmedabad. They remained in Ahmedabad till July 6, 2011 when the Supreme Court ordered Ahmedabad Prison Superintendent to send the accused to Mumbai. They reached Mumbai on February 1, 2012 and have since been lodged in Taloja jail in Navi Mumbai.