Mumbai: The Bombay High Court, in a first of sorts, allowed a convict in the 7/11 serial train blasts case to take one examination of the second semester law examination from the Nashik central prison.
The court heard a petition by Mohammed Sajid Marghoob Ansari had sought permission to appear for the second semester law examination held by Siddharth Law College in south Mumbai from May 3 to May 15.
In May, the court had permitted him to physically appear for the exams and had directed the Nashik central prison authorities to produce him in the college on the dates of the exam. He filed a plea before the HC on May the 10 saying that he could not appear for some of papers as he could not be produced before the college on time.
The jail authorities contended that despite their efforts, they could not produce Ansari in time. The court had asked the MU to consider permitting Ansari to appear online for one exam.
On Monday, the University's advocate Rui Rodrigues, informed the bench that Ansari could be permitted to appear for one examination scheduled on June 12 from the Nashik jail itself. He said after deliberations between University officials, jail authorities and state officials.
Government said that the question paper would be emailed to the jail's common mail address and also to the jail iSuperintendent's email address. Ansari can then give his paper from inside the jail from 10.30am to 12pm. His answer paper would then be sealed by the invigilator and handed over personally to the Siddharth Law College's principal.
The court accepted the arrangement. An affidavit was also filed by the DIG (Prisons) stating a policy could be framed on the issue of holding examinations for inmates in jails itself, in order to avoid such applications in future.
Nothing that it was a positive stance taken by the government, the court said mechanism could be formulated on the issue. The HC has kept the matter for hearing on July 1. State advocate Mankunwar Deshmukh said taking inmates, convicted of serious offences, outside jail raises security concerns.
The university, However, said this should not be treated as a precedent. “Why not? If people want to improve their educational qualifications then why not?. We want more lawyers," a bench of Justices Bharati Dangre and Manjusha Deshpande said.
On July 11, 2006, a series of bombs ripped through seven western suburban coaches, killing 189 commuters and injuring 824. In September 2015, a special court had convicted Ansari and others in the blasts case. Ansari was sentenced to life imprisonment.
