A 19-year-old Pune student, arrested for a social media post concerning Indo-Pak hostilities, has been released from jail after the Bombay high court granted her bail while rebuking the Maharashtra government for "ruining her life" and turning her into a "hardcore criminal".
The Bombay High Court criticized the Maharashtra government for arresting a 19-year-old student from Pune for her social media post on Indo-Pak hostilities, calling its reaction "radical." The court granted the student bail and said the state's actions were unwarranted and had turned a student into a criminal. The court also questioned the conduct of the college for rusticating the student, stating that an educational institution's approach should be to reform, not punish. The student had reposted a post on Instagram that criticized the Indian government for provoking a war against Pakistan, but she later deleted the post and apologized for her actions. The college, however, deemed the post to be anti-national and expelled the student. The court emphasized that mistakes are bound to happen, especially at a young age, and urged the college to focus on reforming students rather than punishing them.
Defence lawyers, who appeared for Pakistani gunman Ajmal Kasab in the sessions and Bombay high court, on Wednesday welcomed his execution and said that by taking his case out of turn, the government has brought some peace to the victims of the 26/11 terror attack.
"A great relief" is how lawyer Farhana Shah, who defended maximum number of accused in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case, summarised her reaction after the Supreme Court commuted the death sentence of 10 out of 12 convicts to life sentence.
Denying his role in the 26/11 attacks at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Railway Terminus, Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab on Friday told the Bombay high court that police had cooked up a story to falsely implicate him in the crime.
Ajmal Kasab, the Pakistani terrorist convicted for the 26/11 attack, told the Bombay high court on Wednesday that he had no objection to the state opening arguments on confirmation of death sentence awarded to him for his role in the carnage that killed 166 people.
The two lawyers appointed by the Bombay high court to argue Ajmal Kasab's appeal against his death sentence in the 26/11 attack case on Saturday met the Pakistani terrorist at the Arthur Road jail in Mumbai. On June 8, the high court had appointed Amin Solkar and Farhana Shah as lawyers to argue Kasab's appeal. "We met Kasab for nearly 20 minutes in his cell and spoke to him about the case. We told him that the court had appointed both of us to argue his appeal," Shah said.
Sanjay Dutt's decision to contest the next Lok Sabha election from Lucknow has surprised many political experts. Questions have been raised about whether Dutt is eligible to contest the polls, as he had been convicted under the Arms Act and sentenced to six years in jail by the Special Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Act Court in July, 1997.However, Dutt's lawyer Farhana Shah is confident that Dutt will be allowed to contest the LS polls.
However, his lawyer Farhana Shah told PTI the court would not necessarily decide on Dutt's application seeking relief under the Probation of Offenders Act on that day. "The court has merely asked him to be present on Friday," she said.
In an application, the convicts have cited a judgment of Justice Markandey Katju in which the judge had stated that punishing TADA accused even when the Act has expired could be a violation of Article 14 of the Constitution.
Salem has engaged reputed criminal lawyer Niteen Pradhan to argue his case and shall make his submissions on Tuesday.
Thirty other accused, lodged in central prison, were, however, produced before the court.
Earlier, Dutt's lawyers had been given September 27 as a tentative date for collecting the copy of the order, but later it became clear that copies were not likely to be ready before month-end.
Sanjay's lawyer Farhana Shah pleaded that the actor was a brand ambassador of a company's product and was required to be in South Africa to attend a function.
Motorwala is facing the charge of conspiracy in the 1993 serial blasts along with other accused. He is also facing the charge of sending co-accused to Pakistan en-route Dubai for training at the instance of prime conspirator Dawood Ibrahim.
Close on the heels of the release of actor Sanjay Dutt on parole to take care of his ailing wife, a similar relief has been extended to another 1993 bomb blast accused on the same ground.
Chauhan, in his petition filed through lawyer Farhana Shah, claimed that the IG (prisons) had cancelled the remission granted to him 'without applying his mind and with a malafide intention'.
The sea training also included 'how to fish', something that made Kasab think that 'he had got a job and he could earn a respectable living'.
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