BENGALURU: Considering arguments of the prosecution that the accused had committed a heinous offence involving national security and integrity, the Special Court for NIA cases declined to grant bail to the 12 accused involved in the 2008 Bengaluru serial blast.
Judge Gangadhara CM rejected the bail applications filed by Edapana Thodika Sharafuddeen, Abdul Jabbar, V P Mahammad Sakariya, Badrudheen N, Faizal, Umar Farooq, Ibrahim Molvi, Sameer, Sarfuddin, Thajuddin, Abdul Khadar and P B Saabeer, all from Kerala.
A woman, Sudha, had died and nine were injured in the blast on July 25, 2008, which led to registration of the crime against T Naseer and others. The court noted that the accused had made several attempts to get bail but their applications were rejected as there is a prima facie case against them. If their applications are considered now, it amounts to reviewing orders passed by the court earlier.
Moreover, there is a bar under Section 43(D)(5) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act to consider bail. On perusal of materials available on record, the apprehension of the prosecution cannot be ruled out and hence this is not a fit case to grant bail, the court said.
The accused contended that they have been languishing in jail and completed almost 14 years of incarceration as undertrial prisoners. They also cited decisions of the apex court that if the accused complete 50 per cent of the sentence, they are entitled to bail. The special public prosecutor contended that offences against the applicants were very serious and the punishment prescribed under Section 302 IPC and Section 16 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act is death sentence.
Therefore, there is no question of completion of 50 percent of the punishment period to seek bail. They are facing trial in nine cases and in each case, more than 200 witnesses have been examined and more than 800 documents have been marked. The trial has been concluded and arguments on merits also commenced.
The SPP contended that the six accused who were directly involved in the explosions, have absconded and efforts are being made to trace them. If the applicants are released on bail, chances are high that the absconding accused would collect information from the applicants and threaten witnesses, and prevent them from giving evidence, he said. He cited a crime registered in 2016 with Srirangapatna police over the accused threatening witnesses with death, if they give evidence.
