Court sets aside order to extend Kazmi detention

But he declined to pass any order for the release of Kazmi who has been in custody since March. Stating that the decision rested with the remand court,he returned the matter to the court of the CMM.

The prosecutor has been given seven days to file a fresh report for extension of custody and told to serve proper notice to Kazmi.

On June 2,the CMM passed an order extending the duration of the probe period by 90 days under the provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

ASJ Rathi accepted Kazmi’s plea to set aside the extension order since it had been passed without giving him notice or an opportunity to be heard in court.

He noted that the CMM’s order did not contain any reason for extending the custody of the accused.

During arguments,Kazmi’s lawyer Mehmood Paracha said his client was neither present in the court nor was he heard before the order for extension of the probe period had been passed.

Observing that an accused had the statutory right to be given notice and be heard,ASJ Rathi said the “order had been passed in a most reticent and clandestine manner”. The order was unsustainable in light of the constitutional and statutory provisions,he said.

Moreover,the extension of the period of investigation and detention by 90 days in one go was incorrect since the court had allowed extension despite the failure of the Special Cell to conclude the investigation within the mandated three-month period,he said.

“It (the extension) could have been done in a piecemeal pattern as per the necessity and progress of investigation,” ASJ Rathi said.