New Delhi: Mohd Moin Faridulla Qureshi`s plea against his conviction and life sentence on the ground of being a juvenile at the time of Mumbai blasts was on Thursday rejected by the Supreme Court which said "by any stretch of imagination he does not qualify as a child in need of care and protection."
The apex court said TADA was enacted in the background of escalation in terror strikes in the country and its provision providing for punishment for terrorist activities covers every person including juvenile.
"On perusal of aims and objects of TADA, it is clear that the Act is brought into the statute books to deal with a special category of persons, viz, terrorists.”
"There would be no justification in restricting it to only to a major or non-juvenile as such an interpretation would have a potentiality to defeat the object of TADA," an apex court bench of justices P Sathasivam and BS Chauhan said.
PTI
