* Pragya Thakur in jail since 2008
* Trial of SIMI’s Munir Deshmukh began 10 yrs after arrest
BHOPAL: Justice delayed is justice denied is an old adage. And that is what persons charged under Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, (UAPA), 1967 have been facing in Madhya Pradesh.
There are inordinate delays in granting of prosecution sanction, which is mandatory under section 45 of the Act.
In some cases, this period extended up to 10 years, leading to undertrials being forced to stay in jail without trial.
Pragya Singh Thakur was arrested in the 2008 in the Malegaon blasts case under UAPA and MCOCA. Finally, the Bombay High Court, on October 15, 2016, asked how she could be kept in prison when the prosecuting agency NIA had said that there was no case against her. She had to stay in Bhopal jail too in connection with the Sanjay Joshi murder case.
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Similarly, SIMI activist Mohammed Tahir, along with six others, was arrested under UAPA in 2001, the same year in which SIMI was banned. He was acquitted after spending a long time in jail.
Munir Deshmukh and Noor Deshmukh’s case had also hit the headlines. Noor Deshmukh was arrested in 2001 after Rs 4.5 lakh was seized from his scooter. The police claimed the money was meant for SIMI. The sanction for prosecution was granted 2012, after ten long years. Noor Desmukh was acquitted as the case was registered under section 13 of UAPA but sanction was granted to prosecute under Section 10.
Munir Desmukh, who was arrested around the same time as Noor, was convicted in 2015 but was acquitted in 2016 in appeal.
Earlier, Muneer was granted bail because the Home Secretary of the state could not appear as witness in the court and a local BJP leader mentioned as a key witness by the prosecutors, turned hostile. Another ground for bail was that the charge-sheet was not filed within 90 days of prosecution sanction.
Advocate Pervez Alam said, “There must be fast track courts for speedy disposal of UAPA cases. It is pathetic that it takes 10 years just for sanction to persecute the accused.”
