SC pulls up UP govt, calls Kashmiri man’s incarceration a ‘shame’

Thesupremecourtontuesdaysaidthat allegedhizbulmujahideenoperativeand former AMU research scholar Gulzar Ahmad Wani will be released on bail on November 1 if the trial court fails to completewitnesses’examinationbythattime.

A bench led by Chief Justice of India J S Khehar expressed strong displeasure at custody of Gulzar Ahmad Wani for the last 16 years despite his acquittal in 10 out of 11 criminal cases.

“Out of 11 cases, he has been acquitted in 10 cases. What a shame! The problem is that you want to keep him inside the jail but not complete the trial. He was acquittedinallothercases,”thebenchtold the counsel for Uttar Pradesh as he opposed Wani’s release. The court further notedthatthetrialmovedatasnail’space although the apex court had last year directed the conclusion of recording of evidencewithinsixmonths.“youseemtobe very casual,” the bench told the state government as it set the deadline.

Wani (43), a native of Baramulla in Kashmir who is currently lodged in the Lucknow district jail, has been exonerated in nine cases. He was, however, convicted for 10 years for allegedly carrying explosives to trigger a blast in Delhi but his sentence was suspended. The only pending case against him relates to the Sabarmati Express train blast which was lodged in Uttar Pradesh’s Barabanki district.

The apex court, after perusing records of the case, said that Wani would be released on bail on November 1 if the prosecution failed to record evidence of material witnesses in the Sabarmati Express blastcase.senioradvocatepnmishra,appearing for Uttar Pradesh government, submitted that the accused has not been in custody in all these years in the present case, relating to the Sabarmati train blast.