BENGALURU: The NIA special court in the city has dismissed a plea filed by suspected terrorists arrested from Tamil Nadu in connection with a bomb blast at the court premises in Mysuru, seeking direction to the jail authorities to remove handcuffs while escorting them to court and to provide phone facilities at the central jail, enabling them to contact their family. The accused had claimed that they are not liable to be handcuffed.
Judge Siddalinga Prabhu of the NIA special court, dismissed the applications filed by Nainar Abbas Ali, Samsun Karim Raja and Dawood Sulaiman. “This court does not know the antecedents of these accused and it is not in a position to mention that these accused are dangerous and desperate. The safety and interest of the public at large as well as of witnesses who are to be protected under the provisions of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, cannot also be ignored. Therefore, no order of direction related to handcuff deserves to be passed”, the court said.
The NIA arrested Ali and Raja from Madurai and Sulaiman from Chennai, with the assistance of local police. The accused were booked under provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, in connection with a bomb blast at a public toilet on the Mysuru court complex premises at 4.10 pm on August 1, 2016. The accused were allegedly running the terrorist outfit ‘The Base Movement’.
The court also said that a special court was assigned with cases involving offences punishable under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, investigated by the CCB police as well as by the NIA. “This court is provided with the facility of separate and individual video conferencing and the same has been in use.”