3 min readMumbaiOct 23, 2019 10:35 AM IST
First published on: Oct 23, 2019 at 03:37 AM IST
The name was listed in an order imposing a ban on the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) by a tribunal of the Delhi High Court in July 2019. (File)
ABDUL WAHID Shaikh, the only accused to walk out a free man in the 7/11 suburban train blasts of 2005, has moved the Delhi High Court after he found his name listed among the convicted accused in the incident which claimed 189 lives. The name was listed in an order imposing a ban on the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) by a tribunal of the Delhi High Court in July 2019.
The Tribunal had in July upheld the ban imposed on SIMI and validated a central government notification, issued in February this year, extending the ban for another five years. The Tribunal was appointed by the central government in February 2019 to adjudicate whether or not there is sufficient cause to declare SIMI an unlawful association.
In his petition, Shaikh said that in the order, the Tribunal has wrongly recorded that he is one of the 10 of 12 accused convicted of being SIMI members by a Special Judge in Mumbai. He further states that “it is worth pointing out that the Petitioner was the only accused in the case who was acquitted of all charges” and that no appeal was filed by the state against the acquittal. The Tribunal order had further been published by Centre in a Gazette of India notification on August 27, 2019.
Shaikh was arrested in 2006 by the Anti-Terrorist Squad and was acquitted by the special court in September 2015.
The petitioner is seeking an order for the expunction of factually incorrect observations made against him and is also calling for directions to publish said expunction in the Gazette of India.
The petition stated that it “appears from the impugned order/notification that the said observations are based on the evidence given by a witness…” and called on the court to issue a showcause notice and take appropriate action if it is found that the witness furnished false information before the Tribunal.
The petition adds that the observations contained in the order/notification against Shaikh are “factually incorrect and would cause irrevocable injury and prejudice to the Petitioner who was exonerated by the trial court of all charges”.
The name was listed in an order imposing a ban on the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) by a tribunal of the Delhi High Court in July 2019. (File)
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