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April28, 2005 - [India Thinkers Net] Daily news update by CHRO & Riverbasin (April28th) >> |
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The Telegraph, April 28, 2005, Thursday Verdict a first in Bengal A STAFF REPORTER For the first time in the state, seven men convicted in a single case have been sentenced to hang till death in a milestone judgment in Calcutta on Wednesday. The order took the city??™s judicial and governmental circles by surprise. Since Independence, the number of hanging orders in any case in the state has never exceeded two. ???I have never heard of so many people being condemned to capital punishment in a single case before. Though the lower court??™s order is subject to the approval of a higher court, we are witnessing such an order for the first time in Calcutta,??? said state home secretary Amit Kiran Deb. ???There are instances of death sentences to three or four persons in a single case in other states in India, but this is definitely a first for West Bengal,??? he added. Bikash Bhattacharya, senior lawyer of Calcutta High Court and former advocate-general of Tripura, called it a ???rare order???, though he disagreed with the judgment. ???The offence committed by Aftab Ansari and his accomplices does not call for capital punishment. They have undoubtedly committed a heinous crime by attacking the American Center and killing five innocent policemen deployed there, but I cannot term the crime a rarest of rare case,??? he said. Bhattacharya, CPM mayoral candidate in the upcoming civic polls, added that Ansari and his accomplices deserved harsh punishment short of the death penalty. Senior high court lawyer Jaymalya Bagchi said he had, all along, opposed capital punishment. http://www.telegraphindia.com/1050428/asp/calcutta/story_4670199.asp ------------------------------------------------------------ The Telegraph, April 28, 2005, Thursday Death sentence, for all seven A STAFF REPORTER Calcutta, April 27: Aftab Ansari and six others were today sentenced to death in connection with the terror attack on the American Center here three years ago. This was the second largest number of death sentences ever handed in a single case anywhere in the country. After Basudeb Majumdar, the 12th judge of the city civil and sessions court, read out the sentence for ???waging war against the nation???, Aftab said: ???Aapka shukr hai ki aapne aaj hi bata diya (I am grateful that you have passed the sentence today itself).??? On a murky winter morning on January 22, 2002, two assassins on a motorcycle opened fire on policemen during the changing of guard in front of the American Center in central Calcutta, killing five. ???Thank God, justice has been delivered,??? said Rupali, widow of Anup Mondal, one of the dead policemen. The sentence was delivered after some six hours of wait since the session began inside Presidency jail around 10.45 in the morning. Only in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case was a higher number of death sentences, 26, given. The alleged mastermind, Aftab, 31, and the other six ??” Jamiluddin Nasir, Musarat Hussain, Shakir Akhtar, Hasrat Alam, Adil Hassan and Rehan Alam alias Montil ??” have decided to move the high court challenging the order. If the high court upholds the sentence, they can go to the Supreme Court and finally to the President seeking pardon. ???This is an unprecedented judgment where a judge has slapped death sentence riding the provisions of the Arms Act without even having a look at the particular weapon that was used to kill five persons,??? said Sayed Shahid Imam, Aftab??™s advocate. Imam also questioned why the judge took so long to pass the sentence and wondered if he had acted under government pressure. ???It has never happened that a judge has left his court before pronouncing the sentence. We are not sure where he went,??? Imam said. Around 10.30, Majumdar arrived in a white ambassador in Presidency jail and 15 minutes later, took his seat in the small room that was converted into a court. Minutes later, the convicts were brought in, one by one, with Aftab, in black trousers and a white T-shirt with a black border around the sleeves, in the lead. The collapsible gate leading to the flight of steps reaching the courtroom was drawn with a sharp crank. Inside the room feet shuffled, officers took their position and relatives of the convicts sat up as the judge asked each of the seven to speak on the conviction pronounced yesterday. Aftab, who was deported from Dubai to stand trial, spoke first. ???Aap jo achcha sochein, wohi kijiye (You do whatever you think best),??? he said in a sharp, clear voice. The others repeated the line. Their lawyers requested the judge for copies of the judgment to be delivered to them today, which is the rule. But the delay began as the verdict was 280 pages long and there was no place inside the jail where it could be copied. The judgment was taken to the city civil court a few kilometres away and the copying began. Around 2 pm, Majumdar himself left the jail for the city civil court to check on the progress of the copying and had his lunch there. The copies ??” eight sets ??” arrived in the courtroom around 4.30 and some 15 minutes later the sentence was delivered. Aftab and the six others??™ lawyers used the period of absence of the judge from the jailhouse courtroom to level allegations of government influencing the verdict. ???Too much is being read into the judge??™s movements,??? said public prosecutor Ashok Bakshi. When Majumdar left, the crowds outside had thinned and the lights had come up at Presidency jail. Aftab had returned to cell number 9. http://www.telegraphindia.com/1050428/asp/frontpage/story_4671522.asp ------------------------------------------------------------ The Telegraph, April 28, 2005, Thursday Killer with a swagger From within the courtroom lock-up, American Center attack mastermind Aftab Ansari stared hard at judge Basudeb Majumdar, face set in grim defiance. The time was 4.45 pm at Presidency jail and Majumdar was about to conclude his sentence sending the seven convicted in the attack to the gallows. As the judge came to the end of his verdict and looked up, pin-drop silence descended on the makeshift courtroom. Aftab then stood up slowly and walked to the edge of the lock-up. Gripping the bars, the bearded man spoke aloud, his voice a touch sarcastic: ???Sir, we have waited a long time to finally hear the sentence. Thank you for at least not making us wait till tomorrow.??? One of his associates urged him with a gesture to return to the bench. But Aftab had not finished yet. Turning to co-sentenced Adil Hassan, he said: ???Chal, bahut ho gaya. Yahan ka kaam khatam ho gaya (Let??™s go, our work here is over).??? With that, he turned his back on the judge and retreated into the lock-up. There he stood, leaning against the bars, shaking a leg and staring across the courtroom. Adil then got up and accompanied his former ???boss??™ to the back of the lock-up and stood talking to him in whispers. A while later, when the convicts were handed their copies of the order and they were being led back to their cells, an old man ??” possibly a relative of one of the seven ??” came up to Aftab, only to be brushed aside. Aftab was in no mood for commiseration. Late on Wednesday, chief disciplinary officer of Presidency jail Paresh Bose said Aftab had lost none of his composure. ???When he had first come to this jail, he looked as if he could get away with murder. Today, even after being sentenced to death, he has that same confident air about him,??? Bose told Metro. If Aftab was all defiance, the others handed the death sentence looked stunned. At first, none of them would speak, shocked at the turn of events over two days. Musarat Hussain was the first to react, calling out to his lawyer and seeking permission to speak to his wife, Shahana Begum. Shahana was led to his side and they spoke softly for a few precious moments. ???Yeh aapas ki baat hai,??? said Shahana, asked what they had discussed. Shakir Akhtar was the next to pull himself together, as he gestured to his father, beckoning him to his side. He, too, spoke in hushed tones. The others ??” Adil, Jamiluddin Nasir, Rehan Alam and Hasrat Alam ??” just waited silently to be led back to their cells. http://www.telegraphindia.com/1050428/asp/calcutta/story_4670739.asp ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ABOLISH CAPITAL PUNISHMENT: CHRO STANDS FOR TOTAL AND ABSOLUTE ABOLITION OF DEATH SENTENCE FOR ALL CRIMES. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [2] ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ABOLISH CAPITAL PUNISHMENT: CHRO STAND FOR TOTAL AND ABSOLUTE ABOLITION OF DEATH SENTENCE FOR ALL CRIMES. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- The Telegraph, April 28, 2005, Thursday Families cry innocence Muzahir Hassan keeps looking back. Outside Presidency jail, he still cannot believe that son Adil has been sentenced to death. Around 5.30 pm, Muzahir Hassan trudges out of Presidency jail, barely able to walk after hearing the death penalty awarded to his son. Adil Hassan is charged with arranging safe houses for Sadaquat and Zahid (both absconding) in Hazaribagh, along with Jamiluddin Nasir, another accused implicated in the case. ???My son is innocent, he has been framed. We will fight this in the higher court and will not give up so easily,??? cries Hassan, camping in Calcutta for the past few days. Kafil Alam, brother-in-law of Hasrat Alam, found guilty of drawing up a contingency escape route across the border to Bangladesh after the terror strike, cuts a forlorn figure at Presidency jail. ???Hasrat is a poor man and does not have any link with any terrorist organisation. We have been fighting this case for the past three years and now we are all exhausted. We never thought that he would be awarded the death sentence,??? he adds. Pervez Alam was shocked when his son Rehan was arrested for allegedly helping the killers enter Hazaribagh after the American Center strike on January 22, 2002. After hearing the verdict, he finds it impossible to believe that Rehan will hang. ???The law says that a guilty person might get away scot-free, but never should an innocent man get wrongly implicated. This is exactly what has happened in my son??™s case. I am deeply disappointed,??? says Pervez, who owns a jewellery shop in Hazaribagh. ???Over six persons who have direct links with the attack are at large, but the police have made up for their failure by making false charges against my son,??? adds Pervez, before walking away towards his waiting relatives. When the CID freed Shakir Akhtar, days after arresting him in the Parthapratim Roy Burman abduction case, his brother Javed was jubilant. Today, he cannot hold back his tears. ???There was no case against him in the abduction, and he was equally innocent in the American Center case, but the law thought otherwise. Not a single witness could raise a finger at my brother. Yet, he finds himself staring at death. If this is not injustice, what is???? said Javed. ???This is not justice,??? shouted Shahana Begum, wife of convicted Musarat Hussain. http://www.telegraphindia.com/1050428/asp/calcutta/story_4670873.asp ------------------------------------------------------------ The Telegraph, April 28, 2005, Thursday Sleuths in moment of glory ???I have been waiting for this moment for the past three years, and today I was constantly in touch with my colleagues, trying to find out about the verdict,??? said Soumen Mitra, deputy inspector-general of police (CID). As head of the detective department of the city police, it was for Mitra and 15 other officers to crack the American Center attack case. Three years later, they stand vindicated, their only regret being that two of the accused got away scot-free. ???Dilip Patel and Shakeel Malik were charged with transferring money and facilitating the Ansari gang in the entire operation in many ways. But the court obviously thought that the duo was not directly involved in the attack,??? lamented one of the senior officers. Most did not want to comment on the only setback in the otherwise precisely-executed investigation. ???If and when Ansari appeals in the high court, we will consider whether we want to challenge the acquittal of the two or not,??? another officer opined. Overall, the 15-member police team was very happy at the judgment ??” almost pleasantly surprised at the severe punishment. ???Our hard work has paid off. It was extremely difficult to implicate all of them under all the IPC sections, including waging war against the nation and murder. But, collection of evidence, including bringing 124 witnesses and pinpointing the sections against the offenders was smooth,??? said Anil Kar, investigating officer of the case, now officer-in-charge of the watch section. http://www.telegraphindia.com/1050428/asp/calcutta/story_4670736.asp ------------------------------------------------------------ The Telegraph, April 28, 2005, Thursday Kin of slain heave a sigh Through Wednesday, Rupali did not have a morsel and was glued to the television news. She occasionally switched on the radio to find out what had happened to her husband??™s killers. Around 5.45 pm, the 30-year-old rose and bowed before her policeman husband Anup Mondal??™s photograph, muttering: ???Thank God, justice has been delivered.??? Families of the other four policemen killed on January 22, 2002, in the American Center attack, also spent a tense Wednesday, as the city sessions and civil court judge sentenced Aftab Ansari and six accomplices to death. ???I have two kids and they have only seen their father??™s photograph,??? said Rupali. Anup, the only policeman in Raitala village, in Kulpi, South 24-Parganas, was only 24 when he was killed. ???We can??™t get over the cruel turn our lives took. We have found some satisfaction in the judgment. A killer like Aftab Ansari deserves the maximum penalty,??? said Kunti Mondal, Anup??™s mother. ???Anup was, and still is, the pride of the village. The entire village will gather in the evening to pay homage to him,??? she added. In Bamunpara, Howrah, family members of constable Suresh Chandra Hembram were in a joyous mood. ???Neighbours even bought sweets to celebrate the verdict. The support and love we have received from people is unbelievable,??? said Suresh??™s brother Naresh. Suresh had died after a massive cardiac arrest following his injury in the firing. The Sarkar family of Shalipur village, Haroa, North 24-Parganas, switched channels all day to hear the news of the verdict. Pijush Kanti Sarkar was to return to his village for a holiday, but death came riding on motorcycles that morning. ???Our hearts pine for him,??? said Raja Ghosh, a friend. ???I am told that a case can drag for years. We don??™t want a criminal like Ansari to stay in this world,??? said Muskura Bibi, widow of slain constable Asraf Ali. She remarried Asraf??™s younger brother Aftab, who, too, is a policeman in the city. In Pitahar, North Dinajpur, Asha Burman, sister of Ujjwal Burman, also killed in the attack, cut a forlorn figure. ???I am happy that the wait is over,??? is all she had to say. http://www.telegraphindia.com/1050428/asp/calcutta/story_4670364.asp ------------------------------------------------------------ The Telegraph, April 28, 2005, Thursday Six hours to a sentence - Verdict wait stretches through day, pushes kin to brink The wait seemed endless. An hour-and-a-half after a bell sounded at 11 am inside the Presidency jail complex, most thought the proceedings had come to an end. A large crowd had gathered outside the compound, waiting to catch the drama of the American Center verdict, live, more than three years after the attack. As tension peaked, huge gates suddenly opened to make way for a fleet of cars. Police officers waiting outside promptly stood up. Journalists, huddled outside on a lawn, rushed to get a glimpse of the action. But this was just one moment like many through the day. The wait hadn??™t ended yet. Journalists retreated, as did the huddle of curious onlookers, wondering how long it would take the session to come to an end and the judge to deliver his final verdict. ???It will be a long session and we are sorry about it. All of you will have to bear with us,??? explained a senior police officer on duty outside the jail around 12.30 pm. Inside, officers from both the special branch and homicide wing of the detective department took turns stepping out of the courtroom for some fresh air. An hour later, word spread that judge Basudeb Majumdar would be leaving for a while. The security cover was in position ??” wardens, police and commandos ??” as an Ambassador rolled out of the gate. The judge was gone for his only break of the day, the only time the tension at the jail compound eased. The judge returned an hour-and-a-half later. ???Uni eshey gechhen??¦ aar koto kkhon (He??™s back??¦ How much longer could it take)???? asked one onlooker into his cell phone. The TV cameras were in position. Photographers jostled for the front row as police officers closed ranks. Finally, around 5.30 pm, the gates opened to let the lawyers out. Aftab Ansari??™s lawyer emerged first. ???The judgment is out. All seven have been sentenced to death,??? announced Sayed Shahid Imam, sweat trickling down his face. His associates were ready with the media brief. ???It has been one of the longest sessions in my experience,??? said Sarfiraj Ali, an assistant to Abu Baker Dhali, one of the lawyers fighting the convicts??™ case. Outside, anxious family members of the seven finally reached breaking point. ???We have been waiting for so long, only to hear that it is a death sentence! Is this human???? asked Kafil Alam, brother-in-law of convicted Hasrat Alam. http://www.telegraphindia.com/1050428/asp/calcutta/story_4670877.asp ----------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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| << April27, 2005 - [India Thinkers Net] Regi's & CHRO posts (part2) April 27th |
April28, 2005 - [India Thinkers Net] Daily news update by CHRO & Riverbasin (April28th) >> |
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