Accused in Pandya murder case allege ‘inhuman treatment’

And I thought there was only one Guantanamo Bay

Hyderabad: After being detained in the jail for more than five years in connection with the murder of former Gujarat home minister Haren Pandya, 12 people, mostly youth from Hyderabad and Nalgonda district are tired of the inhuman treatment meted out to them with the imposition of the Section 268 of CrPC. Under this section, a prisoner will not be allowed outside the jail under any circumstances, be it a case of ill health or death of a family member. A total of 57 persons were booked in the cases relating to Haren Pandya murder case and attempt to murder case on Jagdish Tiwari, out of which 17 are from the state and five are out on bail. Three from the state were convicted in the alleged murder of and others on attempt to murder of Jagdish Tiwari. Mohammad Rauf, one of the convicted got bail last week from the Supreme Court. Moving further, BM Gupta, the counsel for MIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi, who is fighting the case in Gujarat is in the process of filing a special review petition in the Supreme Court for expeditious hearing of appeals in Gujarat and removal of the Section 268. Maulana Naseeruddin of Saidabad happens to be one of the 17 arrested on the grounds of larger conspiracy. While bail applications were filed several times, they were rejected. Now the counsel has filed a special review petition in the Supreme Court for speedy judgement or grant of bail. “Under Section 268, even if a person is dying due to ill health, he cannot be taken to a hospital. It is done only if they get an order from the government. Also, if any of the family member of the convicted dies, he cannot see the dead for the last time. I suffered a lot due to this political conspiracy,” said M A Rauf at a press conference held at the MIM headquarters in Darussalam in the city on Monday. “The Gujarat judiciary has not been neutral in this case. It is a preplanned act of the police which fabricated the evidence and with the help of POTA, they arrested innocent people while the main accused is moving freely,” the counsel said and questioned as to why Section 268 was not imposed on DGP Vanzara. The counsel was here in the city to discuss the status of the case with the family members of the victims.