Journalism of Courage
During the hearing of the German Bakery blast case in the Bombay High Court, the defence counsel for accused Himayat Baig has demanded that he be allowed to cross-examine about 40 witnesses in the case who were not cross-examined by Baig’s lawyer in the trial court.
The HC bench said it would consider the plea after prosecution lawyer Raja Thakre concluded his arguments.
After dozens of adjournments in the last two years since being heard in the HC, the arguments in the case finally resumed on Thursday.
Defence lawyer Mehmood Paracha submitted to a division bench of Justices N H Patil and S B Shukre that his client had raised several objections to the way his lawyer in trial court failed to the job.
Paracha said Baig had submitted to the High Court that the defence lawyer did not bother to cross-examine key prosecution witnesses and admitted crucial evidence without raising any objections as wished by Baig.
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Baig, who travelled to Mumbai from Nagpur Central Prison where he is presently lodged, was present in the court room.
“… It would be pertinent for me to demand that a retrial be conducted or at least I be allowed to re-examine 40 of the total 104 prosecution witnesses,” submitted Paracha.
The bench told Paracha that his plea as well as applications by two other interveners would be heard only after Thakre concluded his argument.
In his argument on Friday, Thakre recounted the blast that had killed 17 people, including five foreign
nationals.
