UAPA court convicts 2 for SIMI membership

Mumbai: A special Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) court on Wednesday convicted two persons, including 7/11 train blast case convict Mohammed Ali, for being members of banned organisation Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). The court didn’t sentence Ali to imprisonment, saying it would be double jeopardy because he had already been sentenced for the same offence in another blast case.

Ali’s lawyer Sharif Sha-ikh said, “It is mentioned in the Indian Constitution that a person cannot be punished for the same offence twice. Therefore, we had moved an application pointing out to the court that Ali has already been sentenced to imprisonment in another blast case. Considering the said application the judge didn’t sentence him.”

Advocate Khan Abdul Wahab had defended another accused and member of SIMI Nafis Ahmad Ansari. On Wednesday, judge Sanjay Patil held Ansari guilty under section 10 of UAPA. However, the court observed that he had spent three months in prison after arrest and ordered to release him. Case against another accused Shabbir Ahmad Mashiullah was abated, as he died during the trial.

The Mumbai crime branch officers received a tip-off on possible attacks during Ganesh Chaturthi. Public prosecutor Sunil Gonsalves and Shankar Erande claimed that after receiving the information, a squad was sent to Malegaon, Nashik district and another one at Govandi in suburban Mumbai. On further investigation, the team of officers ascertained Ansari and Mashiullah’s link with the banned outfit and apprehended them from Malegaon and Govandi respectively.

The police further claimed that they had travelled to Pakistan for arms training in 2003 and destroyed all proofs of their visit.

During probe the police learnt that Mohammed Ali, who was already arrested by the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) for train blasts, was taken into custody According to police, accused Bhatkal is also wanted in this case.

The 7/11 blasts refer to a series of seven bomb blasts that took place over a period of 11 minutes on the Suburban Railway in Mumbai. which killed 209 people and injured over 700 more. The bombs were set off in pressure cookers on trains plying on the Western Line Suburban Section of the Mumbai Division of Western Railway. In September 2015, 12 people were convicted in this case.

Later that month, a special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court sentenced to death Faisal Sheikh, Asif Khan, Kamal Ansari, Ehtesham Sidduqui and Naveed Khan who allegedly planted the bombs in various trains.