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Journalism of Courage
With the prosecution failing to file its final written reply to conclude its submissions in the 1993 serial blasts case, the trial came to a close on Monday. Designated judge of the special TADA court, P.D. Kode, will now peruse the submissions and the evidence in his final order.
The prosecution informed the court today that it was closing its case, while the defence had submitted earlier that it was through with its arguments. The CBI was to submit final arguments on law points today.
Public Prosecutor A.S. Kulaye requested the court to grant additional time as the lead public prosecutor N. Natarajan was unwell and unable to prepare the submissions. However, the court refused to grant any more time, saying enough time had already been granted.
Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam then informed the prosecution was closing its case.
Meanwhile, Sanjay Dutt and 88 other accused, who are out on bail, appeared before the special court. The court repealed the blanket permission granted to Dutt to travel anywhere within the country as long as he kept the police informed about his schedule.
Nikam had argued earlier that since the trial was in its final stage, the movements of the accused must be restricted. Dutt and the other accused will now have to seek the court’s prior permission before leaving its jurisdiction. All the accused have been asked to appear before the court on December 20.
Henceforth, they will also >be required to present themselves before the court every fortnight.
The trial, which started in 1995, is one of the longest ever, with some of the most voluminous chargesheets. The chargesheet itself runs into 10,000 pages with 512 charges. Six hundred and eighty five witnesses were examined and the evidence runs into 13,000 pages.
