The Hindu : Judge raps police for failing to produce Baasha in court

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Nov 20, 2002

Southern States

Southern States - Tamil Nadu

Judge raps police for failing to produce Baasha in court

By V.S. Palaniappan

Coimbatore Nov. 19. R. Sivakumar, judge of the special court for bomb blast cases, today pulled up the police and prison authorities for having failed to produce two TADA accused (belonging to the Al-Umma) before the court on Monday.

Neither the court nor defence counsel could be held responsible for the delay in disposing cases and it was the prison and the police officials who were culpable, said a visibly irked judge.

Taking up the Coimbatore serial blast case, the judge took exception to the prosecution failure in producing the Al-Umma founder-leader, S.A. Baasha, and an ace bomb-maker, Zakir Hussain, yesterday when the TADA case came up for trial. Only 10 accused were produced (of the 21 accused in the 1993 TADA case, 12 are in jail, seven are on bail, while two are absconding).

The judge said the Supreme Court had given directions on conducting the trial on a day-to-day basis for ensuring early disposal.

(The direction was given on May 5, 2000, while hearing a bail plea filed by the Kerala-based Peoples Democratic Party leader, A.N. Mahdhany, who contested his detention for more than three years without any "significant progress'' in the trial).

Mr. Sivakumar observed, "I have information that despite repeated directives from the special court, the Special Investigation Team wanted to produce Zakir Hussain before the Chief Judicial Magistrate Court in Tiruchi on November 18 in connection with the Sridhar murder case, with utter disregard for the Supreme Court directive''.

Similarly, S.A. Baasha, sent a letter to the Special Court here stating that he wanted to be produced before the bomb blast case special court at Poonamallee near Chennai on November 18.

The judge recalled that the police were permitted to transfer 14 accused to the Chennai Central Prison on the assurance that the accused would be produced before the court whenever necessary.

``The other accused in this court express the suspicion that the officials would have obtained the letter from him using their influence, ,'' he added.

Without their presence in the Poonamalee court, the case could proceed, as questioning under Cr.P.C 313 in that court had already been completed, he said.

The presence of the two accused before the special court here was essential as the court wanted to amend the charges under TADA (subsequent to its withdrawal) to the relevant provisions of the IPC. The case was in concluding stages and the prosecution delayed its disposal, he observed.

``The report sent by the Superintendents of the Central Prison, Chennai and Coimbatore, were not only contradictory, but also contained suppression of facts, factually incorrect information, especially in connection with the cases in which the two accused were being produced before the other courts''.

Urging the Prison and Police departments to respect the Supreme Court directive, the judge sought their cooperation in disposing of cases on time.

Adjourning the proceedings in both the TADA and serial blasts cases to Wednesday, the judge directed the Superintendent of Central Prison, Coimbatore, to ensure that all the accused were produced before the court then.

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