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Pota court reserves order on application in Haren Pandya case
Ahmedabad, Oct 09: The special Pota court today reserved its order for October 17 on an appeal filed to challenge the application of the anti-terrorism law on all the accused in the Haren Pandya murder case.
Ahmedabad, Oct 09: The special Pota court today reserved its order for October 17 on an appeal filed to challenge the application of the anti-terrorism law on all the accused in the Haren Pandya murder case.
Hearing on the matter concluded here with both CBI
counsel and defence advocates presenting their arguments
before Pota judge Sonia Gokani.
In his argument, defence advocate H N Jhala said the application of Pota in this murder case was irrelevant as the incident was a 'definite design to target assassination of a person only and not spread any large scale terror among people of Hindu community', as claimed by prosecution and CBI.
Jhala argued that assassination of Pandya was a personal score settled by the accused after they were upset over reports that the BJP leader had desecrated a mosque when it was damaged by vandals during the post-Godhra communal riots.
He sought to know as to why was Pota not applied by the state government in the Gulberg society, Naroda-Patiya, Sardarpura and other massacres that took place in the wake of the Godhra train carnage, which indicates the government's stand against a particular section of the community.
He also sought to know as to why Haren Pandya's father Vitthalbhai Pandya's statement was not recorded by the investigating agency despite his repeated statement that 'his son was a victim of political murder'.
CBI counsel J M Panchal argued that there was a clear case of 'intention' to spread terror among Hindus by murdering the prominent BJP leader, which was evident from the evidences collected by CBI and the confession obtained from the accused.
Bureau Report
In his argument, defence advocate H N Jhala said the application of Pota in this murder case was irrelevant as the incident was a 'definite design to target assassination of a person only and not spread any large scale terror among people of Hindu community', as claimed by prosecution and CBI.
Jhala argued that assassination of Pandya was a personal score settled by the accused after they were upset over reports that the BJP leader had desecrated a mosque when it was damaged by vandals during the post-Godhra communal riots.
He sought to know as to why was Pota not applied by the state government in the Gulberg society, Naroda-Patiya, Sardarpura and other massacres that took place in the wake of the Godhra train carnage, which indicates the government's stand against a particular section of the community.
He also sought to know as to why Haren Pandya's father Vitthalbhai Pandya's statement was not recorded by the investigating agency despite his repeated statement that 'his son was a victim of political murder'.
CBI counsel J M Panchal argued that there was a clear case of 'intention' to spread terror among Hindus by murdering the prominent BJP leader, which was evident from the evidences collected by CBI and the confession obtained from the accused.
Bureau Report