NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court today posted for July hearing on a plea by jailed underworld don Babloo Srivastava seeking a direction that his trial in remaining cases outside UP be conducted through video conferencing due to his "poor health".
A vacation bench of justices R K Agrawal and Amitava Roy fixed July 2 for hearing Srivastava's plea, which sought direction to Ministry of Home Affairs, Uttar Pradesh and State of Gujarat that "he be exempted from personal appearance in view of his extremely poor health condition and his indirect sufferings of many substantive punishments".
Srivastava in his plea said that he is in jail since 1995 after being extradited from Singapore and "since his return, he is in custody and in solitary confinement".
"It is extremely significant to mention that Srivastava was extradited to face trial in four cases only. However, besides these four cases, he has been put to trial in at least 20 other cases so far that were not part of extradition.
"Out of such 20 cases, 9 cases relate to the period prior to his extradition. Out of such 9 cases, he has been acquitted in 8 cases and the trial of 9th case has been stayed by this court," advocate Deepak Anand Masih, appearing for Srivastava, said.
An alleged former aide of fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, Srivastava, who is serving life sentence in a murder case, stated that after remaining in jail for last 21 years, the process to join the trial had been more than a substantive punishment for him.
"Now he is approaching 60 years old and has very poor health condition for a long time. His vision in both eyes have been impaired. The process to join the trial had been more than a substantive punishment for the petitioner. Today he is medically unfit to travel...," the plea said.