The Second ACMM Court on Thursday extended the police custody of 11 terror suspects who were arrested by the Central Crime Branch (CCB) police, till September 27.
As the period of police custody of these suspects ended on Thursday, the police produced them before the court and sought the extension of their custody as the investigation is not yet complete.
Magistrate Nanjundaiah considered their plea and extended the police custody of all the 11 accused.
However, Akmal Rizvi, secretary of Association for Protection of Civil Rights which is providing legal aid to the accused, alleged the defence counsel was not given a copy of the remand application.
“The police did not even mention the grounds on which they wanted the extension of the custody. Normally, those who are arrested under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act will be given to police custody only for 15 days. According to Section 43D of the Act, the accused can be sent to police custody for a maximum of 30 days. But in this, the custody has been extended without giving a chance to the defence counsel to file objections,” Rizvi contended.
“We will discuss with the accused and their parents about questioning the proceedings done at the lower court in the High Court,” he added.
The suspects were arrested on August 29 for their alleged links to terror outfits LeT and HuJI. The other three suspects will be produced before the court on Friday and Saturday.
Advocates Vs Media
The fight between the advocates and the media popped up again on Thursday when some advocates at the court chased away reporters, photographers and video journalists who had come to cover the proceedings.
A group of advocates tried to snatch an iPad belonging to a woman journalist of a national TV channel and threatened to beat up journalists if they did not leave the court premises. Journalists, later, vacated the premises.