BOMBAY: Confessions of the accused in the bomb blasts case were not voluntary and were influenced by the police, according to the submissions made by C. Martis, who are defending an accused at the designed TADA court of J.N, Patel.
Mantis said his client, Salim Rahim Sheikh, a driver, was charged under TADA and as well as the Arms Act. He was arrested ‘on April 6 and a pistol and 48 Cartridges seized from him. However, his confession was not ‘Voluntary, he said.
Mantis said there was not a single point which the prosecution could Support with any evidence, the police officer in question had applied only a few guidelines while taking down the confessional statements and the spirit of the guidelines, which was that confessions should be voluntary, was not honored.
The court should take a serious view of the matter as otherwise it would not be a fair trial, he submitted. The designated TADA judge accepted the fact that the presence of police could affect the confession, whether it was voluntary or not.
Salim, an associate of Javed Chikna, one of the accused who is absconding was identified by five witnesses. However, Martis questioned whether the identification parade was carried out in the manner prescribed by the law.
In the FIR, there had been several discrepancies as Salim was identified as the person driving the car. The FIR originally sold there were five people. Later it was changed to eight. Physical description of only six persons was given.
Further, there were no witnesses to identify the Maruti van which ‘was seized by the police. Not one could remember the registration number of the vehicle, Martis submitted.
During the identification parade, it was customary to provide the description of the dummy persons whose physical characteristics match the accused. There was no information about these dummies, Mantis said. The prosecution said the record shows that dummies were present and this must be accepted, Salim is stated to have driven the Maruti from which people threw grenades at Mahim on March 12. There was also some discrepancy in the number of people who threw the bombs. Further, it was submitted that it was a surmise that he went to Pakistan. His passport was with the police.
According to his confession, which was retracted, Salim wanted to lake revenge because his grandmother was killed in the riots? He met Javed Chikna who took his passport and sent him to Dubai and Pakistan; He had also met Tiger Memon and helped in preparation for the blasts, according to his confession.
Article extracted from this publication >> September 23, 1994
