A Supreme Court Bench of Chief Justice Khehar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud on Tuesday gave the trial court in the 2000 Sabarmati train blasts case a deadline of six months – by October 31, 2017 — to complete the proceedings.
It ordered that undertrial Gulzar Ahmed Wani, who has spent the last 16 years in jail, be released on bail on November 1, 2017, whether or not the trial is completed.
The Bench was hearing his appeal filed two years ago.
Wani, who said he was a Ph.D scholar at Aligarh Muslim University before his arrest in the blasts case, has been acquitted in 10 of the 11 charges he faced.
His bail application was rejected by the Allahabad High Court in 2015, which said the “release of such persons would adversely affect the interest of society.”
“What a shame. This man spent the past 16 years in jail and he has been acquitted in 10 of the 11 charges… What a shame,” Chief Justice Khehar told the U.P. State counsel.
The court found that the prosecution has only examined 20 prosecution witnesses in the case in the past decade-and-a-half. There are totally 96 witnesses.
“Why should he suffer jail because you cannot lead evidence?” Chief Justice Khehar asked the State counsel.
“The police made me a terrorist… may be because I am from Kashmir,” Gulzar Ahmed Wani earlier told the Supreme Court.
Wani, through his counsel Mohd. Irshad Hanif, was replying to Chief Justice Khehar’s question as to why a “legitimate man” needs so many names. The Supreme Court cause list identifies Wani as “Irshad, Ashraf and Abdul Hamid.”
“How many names does a legitimate man need? I have only one name… why do you have so many aliases?” Chief Justice Khehar asked Mr. Hanif. “The police have given me [Wani] many names. I cannot tell you why they gave me aliases… I cannot answer for them,” Mr. Hanif responded.
Mr. Hanif argued that the entire story of the prosecution was “engulfed in doubts and shrouded in mystery.” The petition said the entire evidence against Wani was based on the disclosure statements of the co-accused.
Wani was named accused in the blasts case on the sole basis of a statement made by Mohd. Aqil, a co-accused, during interrogation. Aqil told the police that he and another accused Mohd. Maroof planted the bomb in the train on August 14, 2000 at the instance of Wani, who hatched the conspiracy. Both Aqil and Maroof were granted bail in 2001.
“And I [Wani] was a meritorious student at AMU,” Mr. Hanif said.
