The Bombay High Court on Friday stayed the trial against Syed Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal, the suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba operative who allegedly coordinated the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks from Karachi.
The High Court stayed the proceedings as the Delhi Police’s petition against a Sessions Court order is pending. The lower court had asked the police to provide the accused the travel documents of his trip from Saudi Arabia to Delhi in 2012. The Delhi police’s Special Cell had approached the High Court earlier this month claiming privilege over the documents and urged the court to quash and set aside the trial court’s order.
The police said they arrested Jundal at Delhi airport on a tip-off and charged him for carrying a fake passport. Jundal’s counsel, however, has claimed that Saudi Arabia deported Jundal, and three Indian police officers accompanied him on his flight to Delhi.
Jundal’s counsel sought to review the travel papers and the passenger list prepared by the airways. The trial court had last month directed that the travel documents be shared with Jundal’s lawyer Abdul Wahab Khan.
‘Classified documents’
The police moved the Bombay High Court against the lower court’s order, claiming that they could not be shared with the defence. On Friday, the Delhi Police’s counsel, Advocate Hiten Venegavkar, argued that the documents were classified. Jundal’s lawyer Yug Chaudhary, however, argued that the rights of the accused were being curtailed by denying him access to the documents.
Appearing before the Single Bench of Justice Nitin Sambre, Mr. Venegavkar said under Section 91 (summons to produce document or other thing) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, documents cannot be brought in action by the accused when the cross examination of the prosecution witnesses is going on. He said the documents are classified and have no bearing or relevance to the trial. Mr. Venegavkar said, “These documents are sensitive in nature and hence Indian government have claimed privilege on these documents. The document will affect the sovereignty of Indian nation but it has no significance for the purpose of trial.”
The court said the matter needs to be heard at length to decide on the same and adjourned the matter to post summer vacations on June 11. The prosecution has to examine five more witnesses in their case against Jundal.
Meanwhile, a childhood friend of Jundal told the special National Investigation Agency court that he recognised his voice in a 28-minute recording. The conversation took place in a control room in Pakistan from where Jundal allegedly gave instructions to terrorists during the terror attack.
