Shahbaz in custody of ATS, PUCL calls arrest ‘malicious’
JAIPUR: A local court in Jaipur on Thursday sent Shahbaz Hussain to the custody of Rajasthan AntiTerror Squad (ATS) for two days.
The ATS had arrested Hussain and four others on charges of planting a bomb that did not go off and was diffused on May 13, 2008 in Jaipur.
ATS additional superintendent of police Hari Prasad Somani said 10 bombs were planted on May 13, 2008, at nine locations in the walled city area of Jaipur; nine of these were detonated, killing 71 people, and the tenth was recovered live.
For the nine blasts, eight FIRS were registered, four each at Kotwali and Manak Chowk police stations. Five people – Shahbaz Hussain alias Shahbaz Ahmed, Sai f - ur- Rahman, Mohammad Sarvar, Mohammad Saif and Salman – were accused in these eight cases. On December 18, a special court in Jaipur acquitted Shahbaz Hussain and convicted four others on charges of murder (section 302 of the IPC) and committing terrorist act (section 16 1[A] of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. They were sentenced to death on December 20.
In the ninth FIR, related to the live bomb – No. 121/08 – no arrests were made all these years. “We arrested the five in this case on December 25 on production warrant from Jaipur Central Jail and produced them in court on Thursday,” the additional SP said.
The court sent the four convicted men to judicial custody, and Shahbaz Hussain to two-day police custody. “We are interrogating him to establish the link in the bigger conspiracy,” the police officer said.
Meanwhile, the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) condemned the arrest of Shahbaz Ahmed, saying the action showed “vindictive and malicious attitude of the Jaipur police”. “For 11 years, Shahbaz and the four others were in Jaipur Central Jail, next to the office of the ATS. It’s clear malafide of Jaipur ATS to not investigate and charge sheet this case, along with the other eight cases,” said PUCL president Kavita Srivastava.
She said it was clear that the Jaipur police operated maliciously and tried to prevent the release of Shahbaz. “They don’t wish that he go back home and be a free man. It is clear to the PUCL that the Rajasthan police is trying to hide something, which is why it fears the release of Shahbaz Ahmed,” Srivastava said.
She said the PUCL will move the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) against the move because this is an “attack on Shahbaz’s Constitutional and Human Rights”.
They don’t wish that he (Shahbaz Hussain) go back home .. It is clear to PUCL that Rajasthan police is trying to hide something, which is why it fears his release
KAVITA SRIVASTAVA, of PUCL