One has to be equally emotional for motherland: Court rejects bail plea of Aurangabad Arms haul case accused to attend mother’s final rites

Last month, Mehmoodiya sought temporary bail stating that his mother passed away on April 22 in Ahilyanagar and he wants to attend the post-death rituals as they hold religious and emotional significance as a son.

The court said that the chargesheet of the case shows that a huge quantity of arms and ammunition was recovered in the case.

“If the applicant/accused becomes emotional on the sad demise of his mother, one has to  be equally emotional for Madare Vatan i.e. the motherland. Safety and security of the nation must be of the utmost importance for everyone.  The facts and circumstances in this case in my humble opinion do not at all make the applicant / accused entitled to be released even on temporary bail,”  special judge Chakor S Baviskar said in the order on April 30, which was made available on Tuesday.

When Mehmoodiya cited various judgments of the Bombay High Court and Supreme Court, where accused have been granted bail to attend rites of close relatives, the court said at the same time, one also has to keep in mind the rider that it has to consider ‘all the facts and circumstances of each case.’

In July 2016, a special court convicted 12 of Mehmoodiya’s co-accused, including alleged 26/11 plotter Zabidduin Ansari, in the Aurangabad Arms haul case. The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad had claimed that 43 kg of RDX, AK 47 rifles, 3,200 live catridges and 50 hand grenades were seized from cars and were part of a larger terror conspiracy linked to the accused.

The court, while rejecting temporary bail to Mehmoodiya, said the list of the arms and ammunition seized was ‘horrifying’. It said that while the accused’s contention was acceptable to some extent that none of these arms and ammunition were seized from Mehmoodiya’s possession, the allegations are that he facilitated their ‘procurement, transportation, possession and concealment’.

The court said the accused was arrested after he remained absconding for over a year after the crime was registered and that he had become an approver first then turned hostile during the trial.

“Certainly, in normal course, the ground contended in this application is perfectly justifying so far as other accused in other case is concerned. This accused by his behavioural attitude makes himself disentitle to be considered for temporary bail even on humanitarian grounds,” the court said.