In a major setback to the Maharashtra police, the Bombay High Court on Thursday quashed capital punishment awarded to lone convict Mirza Himayat Baig by the trial court in the 2010 Pune German Bakery blast for lack of evidence, even while confirming the life sentence imposed on him for possession of explosives.
Reading out the operative part of the judgment in the German Bakery blasts case in the open court, a HC division bench of Justices N H Patil and S B Shukre ruled that it had acquitted Baig of all charges under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), under Sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 302 (murder) and 307 (attempt to murder) of the IPC, and under some Sections of the Explosive Substances Act.
The HC bench, however, confirmed Baig’s conviction and life imprisonment awarded to him by the trial court under Section 5(B) of the Explosive Substances Act, for possession of RDX.
The court also confirmed Baig’s conviction under section 474 of IPC, for submitting forged documents while procuring mobile phone SIM cards.
The HC bench noted that the prison term already undergone by Baig in prison from his arrest till date would be considered as part of the sentence.
Thirty-five-year-old Baig, dressed in a black shirt and blue jeans, was present in the court when the HC bench pronounced the verdict in the case.
Buttonholed for a comment by media persons while he was being escorted from the court to the police van, Baig pleaded innocence and said: “I was framed in the case...I have told the truth to the court”.
Talking to media persons outside the court, Baig’s lawyer Mehmood Paracha said: “ My client (Baig) has been acquitted of the charge of his involvement in the German Bakery blast. He has, however, been convicted for possession of explosives and forging documents...We will go through the entire order and decide the next course of action”.
The HC bench also noted that it need not pass any order on the applications filed by two witnesses in the case, as it had acquitted Baig of the charges.
It may be recalled that when filed moved the High Court challenging the death penalty, two witnesses in the case had also filed an application seeking their evidence to be recorded again as their statement was taken under duress.
The high court had on December 22, 2015 reserved its verdict on petitions, seeking and opposing the confirmation of death sentence of Indian Mujahideen operative Mirza Himayat Baig, the lone convict in the 2010 Pune German Bakery blast.
On April 18, 2013, a Pune court had sentenced Baig to death on four major counts, including murder and conspiracy, in the February 13, 2010 German Bakery blasts, in which 17 persons were killed and 60 others injured.
Baig had been sentenced to death under Sections 302 (murder), 120 (b) (criminal conspiracy), of IPC, besides section 16 (a) of Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and Section 3 of Explosive Substances Act – all of which attracted death penalty.
Making a strong case for the confirmation of death sentence awarded to Baig by a trial court, Special prosecutor Raja Thakre had argued before the high court that there was enough circumstantial evidence to form complete chain of events leading to the blast. He said the testimony of witnesses was corroborated by the documentary evidence which was not disputed by the convict.
The defence lawyer didn’t dispute the chemical analyser’s report confirming that traces of the explosive substance RDX found at Baig’s house and that found at the Bakery chemically matched.
Thakre told the court that a Delhi forensic laboratory where CBI had sent samples and the one in Pune where the ATS had earlier sent the samples come to the same conclusion.
On his part, Baig’s lawyer Mahmood Pracha had said that as already argued by the lawyer who defended Baig in the trial court, the ATS had “thrust” upon on Baig by the ATS which had concocted the whole case.
Pracha had demanded a retrial, or a recall of two witnesses who had alleged that they were forced to depose against Baig. “Baig was not in Pune on the day of the blast but in Aurangabad... `RDX’ showed as recovered at Baig’s behest was not proved to be an explosive substance. The discrepancies were in documents including the station diary that recorded the finding of RDX,” Pracha had said.