The Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court recently released Moin Faridullah Qureshi, 33, a life convict in the 1993 blasts case on furlough.
The Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court recently released Moin Faridullah Qureshi, 33, a life convict in the 1993 blasts case on furlough. The court’s order gave the youngest convict of the mammoth trial the right to step out of prison premises for the first time since his arrest in 1993.
However, at the time of passing the order, the court pointed out an irony in law where persons convicted for bootlegging, robbery and dacoity can be denied furlough but for all others, even those convicted under the stringent Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, 1987 (Tada), the fourteen-day reprieve is a statutory right.
Justice NV Dabholkar and Justice SP Davare noted, “If at all the legislature desired that the prisoners in serious matters like Bombay bomb blast case should not be entitled to liberty of enjoying parole or furlough, legislature could have amended Rule 4 of the Prisons (Bombay Furlough and Parole) Rules, 1959.”
Even as per the Prison (Bombay Furlough and Parole) Rules, 1959, furlough can be denied to persons booked under sections 392 to 402 of the Indian Penal Code which cover offences like robbery, dacoity, dacoity and murder or even belonging to a gang of dacoits or robbers. And those booked under the Bombay Prohibition Act that covers offences of bootlegging can be denied furlough.
The judges also said, “Since these rules which are framed in exercise of powers conferred by Prisons Act, 1894 by the then government of Bombay and since present government of Maharashtra has not effected any amendment to these rules, the statutory right of release on parole and furlough cannot be denied to the convicts of Bombay bomb blast case, although that can be denied to the convicts under Bombay Prohibition Act.”
Qureshi was convicted by the special Tada court in July 2007 for lobbing grenades and killing three people at Mahim fishing village in the aftermath of the 1993 serial blasts. He will soon complete 16 years behind bars and is currently lodged at Central Prison in Harsool, Aurangabad. The DIG (Prisons), Aurangabad, in October 2008 had rejected Qureshi’s application for furlough after receiving an adversary report from the Mumbai Commissioner of Police. However, the court was of the view that even the other benches of the court too have granted furlough to convicts of the 1993 blasts case.
What legal eagles say
“If the law is not amended from time to time people are bound to take advantage of it,” said Shyam Keswani, leading criminal advocate of many years. “Does the government have no time to amend an over 100-year-old law? Is it not the duty of the law ministry to point out the inaccuracies in the law?” said Keswani. He added that although terror act convicts getting furlough as against robbers, dacoits and bootleggers may an irony in law, the courts cannot do much unless the legislation performs its duties.
Noted criminal lawyer Rohini Salian said, “In special enactments like Tada, even bail provisions are very strict. If bail is so stringent, why should furlough be granted so easily to these convicts?” She added that Tada is silent on furlough and but the issue needs to be decided by the court once and for all.
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