‘Blast accused tortured in jail’

In a new twist to the standoff between inmates of the Sabarmati central jail and authorities, relatives of 22 Ahmedabad serial bomb blasts accused submitted at least 12 affidavits before the metropolitan court on Tuesday.

In their affidavits, kin of the accused, including Sajid Mansuri and Aiyaz Sayyed, alleged that the accused had been subjected to torture by authorities. The relatives alleged that when the advocates of the accused went to the jail to meet the accused, they were not allowed. They also said that a jail official had also abused them.

A relative of Mansuri said in his affidavit that on March 28, Mansuri was badly assaulted by the jail authorities. A relative of Sayyed also levelled some serious charges.

The affidavits were filed through lawyers IM Munshi, Irfan Munshi and Javed Pathan. Metropolitan magistrate GM Patel directed the Sabarmati central jail authorities to submit a report on this issue by Wednesday. The court deferred hearing in the matter till Wednesday.

Acting on an application submitted by lawyers Javed Pathan and IM Munshi, the court on Monday directed the jail authorities to submit a report on the injuries sustained by inmates within two days. The lawyers had said in their application that they were not allowed to meet accused of the Ahmedabad serial bomb blasts on two days.