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| | PAK, Pak prisoners’ case: GoI seeks adjournment | | | NEW DELHI, Nov 29: The Supreme Court Division Bench comprising Justices R M Lodha and Anil R Dave today adjourned the case of 259 Pakistani prisoners lodged in different jails in India, mostly detained under the orders of the Government of J&K and others War of Prisoners of Pakistan who were arrested in 1965.
The Supreme Court on the request of the counsel for Government of India adjourned the case till January, 2013.
Prof Bhim Singh, senior Advocate appearing for the petitioners urged the Supreme Court for fast trials of those who were allegedly being tried in different courts. He submitted that the Government of J&K violated the Supreme Court’s direction to complete the trial of all the under trial foreign prisoners within one year.
The Supreme Court in 2007 and again in 2008 had directed the government of J&K and Union of India to complete the trial within one year. Bhim also submitted that the government of J&K had not implemented the order of the Supreme Court dated July 9, 2012 in which the Court had directed the government of J&K to produce the original record of prisoners lodgment in the Central Jail, Jammu.
The government of J&K had been trying to play hide and seek in this regard, Bhim said. He also requested the court to allow representatives of the State Legal Aid Committee to visit,, what he chose to describe as “the so-called detention centers” in Amritsar and other places where more than 28 Pakistani prisoners were lodged after completing their sentences.
The Government of India in its reply had stated that five Pak prisoners mentioned in the petition were released whereas one Mohammed Yousuf Khawaja arrested in 1995 was cleared by the Sessions Court, Jammu for deportation.
Bhim later said that the State Legal Aid Committee would dispatch team of lawyers to visit jails where foreign prisoners were lodged illegally and to find out the situation of the 25 prisoners who had been declared mentally challenged and were not identified by Pakistan as its nationals.
Fate of Abdul Sharief who completed his sentence in 1997 and still in prison in Amritsar without any charge in the largest democracy of the world was still hanging in uncertainty about his future the government failed to find his real nationality, he pointed out.
“In the meantime, Shukla Ghosh has the same situation. She completed her sentence in 2000 yet her nationality has not been confirmed by Government of India which shows apathy on the part of administration of the largest democracy,” he stated.
Bhim said that he would continue his fight for freedom and liberty and dignity of all those in Indian prisons for decades because Article 21 of the Constitution of India was the real weapon to seek justice and equity for all Indians or foreigners.
Bhim was assisted by advocates B S Billowria, Gaurav Kumar Bansal, V P Singh, P V Yogeswaran and Satish Vig. |
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