3 POTA accused walk free for want of proof

Uttar Pradesh: Were arrested in 2002 for allegedly passing Indian Army info to Pakistan.

Three accused lodged in Rampur district jail under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) were released Sunday. They were arrested in 2002 for allegedly passing sensitive information about the Indian Army to Pakistan. The release came after a Moradabad court, where the trial was going on, acquitted them Saturday for want of evidence.

Last year, the Akhilesh Yadav government had initiated efforts to withdraw case against them, but the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court had stayed the government’s move.

The hearing of the case was transferred to Moradabad from Rampur after POTA was invoked.

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Acting district government counsel Sanjeev Agarwal said, “The court acquitted them for want of evidence.”

Deputy jailor of Rampur district jail Arun Kumar said all three persons — Maqsood, Javed and Taj Mohammad — had been released as they were acquitted in the case.

Javed’s lawyer Jalaluddin said, “The police did not follow the due procedure under POTA. The statements of the accused have to be recorded by a SP rank officer while in this case an inspector recorded the statements. The prosecution also failed to establish the allegations against his clients.”

The case dates back to August 13, 2002 when the UP Police arrested four persons — Javed alias Guddu, Taj Mohammad, Maqsood and Mumtaz Mian — from Kashipur village in Rampur district. They were accused of leaking secrets of the Indian Army to Pakistan. The police had then claimed to have recovered sensitive documents from their possession.

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The police chargesheeted them under the POTA and the IPC sections 121 (waging, or attempting to wage, or abetting waging of war against the Government of India) and 121-A (conspiracy to commit offences punishable by section 121). The POTA against them was invoked after the police claimed that documents recovered from them were sensitive in nature.

In 2004, the POTA review committee recommended to withdraw charges against Mumtaz Mian after no direct evidence was found against him. Mumtaz is out on bail since 2004.

Mumtaz’s lawyer Nazar Abbas said his client’s case was separated and is pending in a local court of Rampur.

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