Gulbarg witness turns hostile

Aslam Kasam Bhai Mansuri, a witness and survivor of the Gulbarg society massacre case who had lost 12 members of his family, turned hostile before judge BU Joshi.

Mansuri  is a mechanic who lives in Bapunagar.

Mansuri stated that on the day of incident, February 28, 2002, he was standing in the society when the mob attacked it. The public prosecutor RK Shah repeatedly asked him whether he had seen anyone from the mob, but he refused to divulge information and finally, Shah declared him hostile.

In cross examination however, Mansuri stated that on the day Eshan Jafri's house was burned, he saw the dead body of his mother Jebun Ben, Shahzad, Anwar, Jahangir, Mumtaz, and other members of his family there. Mansuri said that as he had suffered injuries on his head, he was taken to VS Hospital for treatment and from there to a relief camp.

The day after the incident Mansuri had identified 17 bodies in Kalandri Masjid which included his sister Nazma, sister-in-law Farida, son Irfan, wife Mehmooda, and daughter Muskan. He has no information about his daughters, Aiyasha, Saiyna, Sabnam  brother Sakil and grandmother Sonaben. Mansuri also refused to identify any of the accused persons sitting in the court.