MUMBAY: The Bombay High Court on Tuesday denied relief to Himayat Baig, convicted in the 2010 Pune German bakery blast case, who had alleged solitary confinement in prison, stating that there was no concern of any "psychological trauma."
Baig in a petition filed last year stated that he has been kept in solitary confinement at the Nashik central prison in Maharashtra since the last 12 years.
He sought to be shifted out of solitary confinement, claiming it was affecting his mental health.
A division bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Neela Gokhale, however, refused to grant any relief.
"At this stage, there is no concern of any psychological trauma as alleged by the petitioner (Baig)," the high court said.
With regard to Baig's prayer seeking a direction to the jail authorities to assign him some work in prison, the court said he shall be assigned work as per the prison rules and regulations.
The Maharashtra government had earlier claimed before the HC that as per the law, no prison in the state follows the system of solitary confinement.
As per the jail authorities, persons convicted for heinous offences, such as blasts and so on, are kept separately from others.
In 2013, a special court in Pune convicted Baig on charges under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The court had imposed death penalty on him.
In 2016, the HC commuted the death penalty to life imprisonment and also acquitted him of charges under the UAPA.
Baig was the only person to be convicted in the February 2010 blast at the German Bakery, a popular eatery in Pune.
The blast killed 17 persons and left 60 others injured.
Six other persons have also been charge-sheeted in the case.
Before the judgement was passed by the trial court in 2013, in a four paged note in Marathi, Baig claimed to be the 18th victim of the blast and alleged that he was framed by the Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS).
"I am the 18th victim of the Bakery blast. To render justice to the victims of the Blast it would be inappropriate to punish another innocent person. ….I haven’t seen explosives in my entire life. I haven’t touched RDX once. This is a conspiracy against me by ATS….,” he told the court.