16 Nov 2002
GOVT WANTS IFTIKHAR OUT ON BAIL
BUT WON'T SAY SO TO COURT IN WRITING
From Jal
Khambata
NEW DELHI: Additional District and Sessions Judge
S N Gupta on Saturday dismissed the bail appeal of journalist
Iftikhar Gilani while directing the Police to establish within 15
days whether the document seized from his computer was secret or
not.
Police Prosecutor R P Dhania suggested during the hearing
that Gilani can be freed on bail with conditions like impounding of
his passport but wriggled out when the judge wanted Police to say so
in writing that it has no objection to the bail.
Deputy Prime
Minister Lal Krishna Advani was quoted in a media report on Saturday
that the government has given its position that there was no reason
to oppose his release on bail but the Police chose not to say so in
writing pleading that it had no such instructions.
Since
Gilani, Delhi Bureau Chief of The Kashmir Times, is charged with
violation of the Officials Secret Act for possessing the document,
the judge chose not to proceed but to dismiss the appeal "at
this stage" giving liberty to file fresh application "first"
before the lower trial court after the Police files report about the
nature of the document.
The Court has thus reverted back the
bail dispute to the court of the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate
Sangita Dhingra Sehgal who had dismissed the original bail
application on Wednesday. The only difference now is that the new
bail application would be considered in the context of the nature of
the document as secret or not.
Noting that the Investigating
Officer admitted that even after five months of Iftikhar's arrest no
competent authority had opined whether the document or secret or not,
the Sessions Court order directed him to "collect this
information from the competent authority as early as possible within
15 days."
Defence counsel V K Ohri quickly moved the
fresh bail application and got it fixed for hearing by Ms Sehgal on
Monday. The application stresses that Iftikhar was arrested on June 9
from his Delhi flat as part of the government's move to detain
several persons opposed to elections in Jammu and Kashmir despite the
fact that he had no political leanings.
While most of those
detained in Kashmir around the same time have been set free since
after the elections while the government is dragging feet in
releasing Iftikhar, the application pointed out.
Iftikhar is
in Tihar Jails on judicial remand till June 25 when the CMM is to
hear arguments on framing of the charges. END