By IndiaTomorrow.net,
Mumbai, 30 Sep 2015: The Jamiat Ulama-e Maharashtra, a leading Muslim organization which provided legal aid to the 13 accused in the 7/11 Mumbai train blasts case, has decided to move the Bombay High Court against the conviction and sentence awarded to 12 convicts by a special court in Mumbai on Wednesday.
A special court set up under the Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act (MCOCA) on 11th Sep convicted 12 and acquitted one. On 23rd Sep, Special Public Prosecutor Raja Thakre sought death penalty for eight of the 12 convicts and life imprisonment for 4 convicts. On 30th Sep, Additional Session Judge Y D Shinde awarded death sentence to five convicts and lifer to seven others.
“We are going to challenge this order on the instruction of President Jamiat Ulama I Hind Maulana Sayyed Arshad Madani,” said Gulzar Azmi, the Secretary of Legal Aid department of the Jamiat, in his first reactions after the special MCOCA announced its verdict.
“We respect the court order, but we would move the appropriate court,” he said, adding that one of the accused Abdul Wahid has been found innocent nearly a decade after the incident. “We would get the best counsels in the Bombay High Court,” Azmi said.
“Those who stood the trial has repeatedly said that they have no role to play but this aspect has not been considered,” he said. “The 7/11 case is a complex case, it is linked to several other issues, we would put all these aspects in the court,” he said.
“We have been providing legal aid to innocent Muslim youths who have been arrested in terror cases. Before we do that, we scrutinize every document and speak to family members of those seeking help, in detail. Once we are convinced then only we provide legal aid. We would help these people as well,” he said.
Some of the prominent cases, wherein, legal aid had been provided by Jamiat are: 26/11 terror trial, 7/11 case (legal aid to Fahim Ansari and Sabauddin Ahmed), Malegaon blasts case (2006), Aurangabad Arms haul case (2006), Mulund blast case, Gateway of India blasts case, 13/7 Mumbai triple blasts case, Arthur Road jail assault case, Indian Mujahideen cases (Ahmedabad, Delhi, Mumbai), Akshardham attack case, Kolkata American Centre attack case, Haren Pandya murder trial, Qateel Siddiqui murder probe, Mozawalla case (Official Secrets Act), and so on.
“Ours is an organization that has been fighting for freedom and justice since 1919. We were the first organization that mobilized the freedom struggle and took up the fight against the British. We are defenders of the innocent and the oppressed, and have been offering legal aid in such cases since 1947,” Azmi said, adding that Jamiat would continue to provide legal aid to whoever it feels is innocent.
