Delhi court acquits suspected Hizb militant

In an embarrassment to Delhi police, a court here acquitted a suspected Hizb militant from J-K, who was held on charge of carrying RDX 4 yrs ago.

New Delhi: In an embarrassment to the Delhi
police, a court here today acquitted a suspected Hizb-e-Islami
militant from Jammu and Kashmir, who was arrested on the
charge of carrying RDX four years ago, in the absence of
sanction for prosecution.

Additional Sessions Judge Madhu Jain absolved Nazir Ahmed
Khan, 42, of various charges under the Explosive Substances
Act, noting that the police had failed to take mandatory
sanction for prosecution of the accused from the competent
authority.

Delhi Police, which had made a last-ditch effort to undo
the lapse by obtaining the sanction from the divisional
commissioner as mandated under the Explosive Substances Act,
failed to impress upon the court.

The Court in its judgement allowed a contention by
defence counsel M S Khan that the police had failed to take
mandatory sanction for prosecution of the accused from the
competent authority (District Magistrate/Divisional
Commissioner) under the Act.

According to the defence counsel, the mandatory sanction
was a condition precedent of the trial but in this case the
prosecution took the sanction from Commissioner of Police,
which was invalid.

The court gave Khan the benefit of the lapses by the
police officers.

Khan, a resident of Mendher in Jammu and Kashmir, was
apprehended by Delhi Police`s special cell on June 4, 2005,
from Daryaganj following a tip off that a man would come from
bus from Jammu and Kashmir with explosives.

PTI

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