Jail superintendent apologises to court for Azhar’s absence

JAMMU, JANUARY 11: Giving an interesting twist to the recent release of the ideologue of the Pan Islamic Harkat-ul-Ansar (HUA), Maulana Ma...

JAMMU, JANUARY 11: Giving an interesting twist to the recent release of the ideologue of the Pan Islamic Harkat-ul-Ansar (HUA), Maulana Masood Azhar, in return for the passengers of the hijacked Indian Airlines plane, the Superintendent of the high security Kot Bhalwal prison Chanchal Singh, on Monday tendered apology to the Forest Magistrate Bala Jyoti, for declining to produce the accused in a case pending trial before her court.

Masood, along with 25 others, is facing trial in the court of Forest Magistrate in State vs Kudrat Ullah and others case. The case pertains to an unsuccessful attempt by some terrorists to escape from the high security Kot Bhalwal jail during 1998.

However, Masood was released from the Kot Bhalwal jail on December 31 without any judicial order in return of the hostages. The state government filed an application for withdrawal of case against him on January 1 – a day after he was released from the jail.

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As the case pertaining to jail break was listed before the ForestMagistrate on January 6, the jail superintendent in a written statement said that none of the accused could be produced before the court. However, he did not assign any reasons for it.

Taking strong note of the statement, the judge had issue a notice asking the jail superintendent to explain as to why the accused could not be produced before the court. She had directed the prosecuting officer to execute the notice and produce the jail superintendent on next date for the purpose. She had also issued summons to the superintendents of various jails in the country where the other accused facing trial in Kudrat Ullah and others case were detained.

Significantly, challan in the case was presented in the court of Forest Magistrate over an year ago. However, the challan is yet to be committed for want of production of the accused.

Meanwhile, the hearing on an application for withdrawal of case against Masood was again deferred as the state sought more time for the purpose. The application was filed before thecourt by the state on January 1 last and Chief Prosecuting Officer.