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2010 Supreme(Cal) 106
High Court of Calcutta
Ashim Kumar Banerjee & Kalidas Mukherjee, JJ.
State of West Bengal – Appellant
Versus
Md. Jamiluddin Nasir – Respondent
Death Reference 2 of 2005 in Sessions Case No. 79 of 2002 C.R.A. No. 425 of 2005 of C.R.A. No. 377 of 2005
Decided On: Feb 05, 2010
Advocate Appeared:
Jayanta Narayan Chatterji, Paromita Mukhopadhyay, Uttam Basak, Aindreela Chakraborty, Suman De, Sourav Chatterjee, Bikash Chakraborty, Prithviraj Sinha Roy, Tanushree Nag, Palash Majhi, Joymalya Bagchi, Jayanta Narayan Chatterji, Sourav Chatterjee, Gourav Banerjee, Ashoke Mukherjee, Subir Ganguly, Syed Shahid Imam, Modassar Alam, Nudrat Urshi, Ishtiaque Alam, Md.Ayub, Zareen N.Khan, Md.Salahuddin, Lokesh Sharma, Md.Shahjahan Hossain, Md.Hashim Hossain, Asimesh Goswami, Swapan Mallick, Ali Dewan.
Headnote:
The case involved a terrorist attack on an American Centre in Kolkata, India, resulting in the deaths of several police officers and civilians. The accused, including Aftab Ansari, Jamiluddin Nasir, Musarrat Hussain, Sakir Akhtar, Hasrat Alam, Rehan Alam, and Adil Hassan, were charged with various offenses, including waging war against the government, conspiracy, murder, and possession of prohibited arms. The court analyzed the evidence, including confessional statements, witness testimonies, and material seized during the investigation, to determine the involvement of each accused.
Fact of the Case:
A terrorist attack took place at the American Centre in Kolkata, India, resulting in the deaths of several police officers and civilians. The accused, including Aftab Ansari, Jamiluddin Nasir, Musarrat Hussain, Sakir Akhtar, Hasrat Alam, Rehan Alam, and Adil Hassan, were arrested and charged with various offenses, including waging war against the government, conspiracy, murder, and possession of prohibited arms.
Finding of the Court:
The court found that the accused were involved in a conspiracy to wage war against the government and that they had carried out the attack on the American Centre as part of this conspiracy. The court also found that the accused were in possession of prohibited arms, including AK-47 rifles, and that they had used these weapons to kill the police officers and civilians.
Issues: The issues before the court were whether the accused were guilty of the offenses charged, whether the confessional statements made by some of the accused were voluntary and reliable, and whether the sanction for prosecution under the Arms Act was valid.
Ratio Decidendi: The court held that the accused were guilty of the offenses charged. The court found that the confessional statements made by some of the accused were voluntary and reliable, and that the sanction for prosecution under the Arms Act was valid. The court also held that the accused were not entitled to the benefit of doubt and that the death sentence imposed on two of the accused was appropriate.
Final Decision: The court convicted the accused of the offenses charged and sentenced them to various terms of imprisonment, including the death sentence for two of the accused.
Banerjee, J.
1. A. FACTS A.1. INCIDENT ON JANUARY 22, 2002 A.1.1. SCENE -1 At about 6:36 a.m., Calcutta Police Control Room at Lal Bazar received an information of firing in front of American Centre. Control Room immediately asked the Shekespeare Sarani Police Station to proceed to the spot. On investigation it revealed that a group of police personnel was guarding American Centre. The said group was about to complete their night duty and the new group was to take over. During the period when handing over of charge was going on at 6:15 a.m., two persons riding on a Motor Cycle one having a pistol in his hand, driving the Motor Cycle and the pillion rider having Machine Gun being AK-47 model indiscriminately fired at the police parly and then fled towards south direction. The entire incident took about five minutes causing casualty to many police personnel and injuring others. One private security guard of American Centre along with one civilian also sustained injury. Eighteen police personnel with gun shot injuries were removed to S.S.K.M. Hospital, Calcutta. Five of them succumbed to their injury while the others except one were treated and discharged subsequently. Two civilians Moti Jadav, a pedestrian and a private security guard one Aubray Gallyat employed by American Centre also sustained gun shot injury. The investigating team recovered cartridges from the place of occurrence. Bullets were also removed from the dead bodies as well as from the bodies of injured persons. Those were subsequently examined by the forensic expert.
2. A.1.2.SCENE-2 At about 6:00 a.m. two friends namely Gilbart Gomes and Sahid Ikbal alias Pappu (P.W. 62) went to purchase milk in Beniapukur. Sahid saw a Maruti Car and a Motor Bike at the crossing of Beniapukur Lane. He was talking to Gilbart Gomes just in front of the shop of one Ashok Nandy. He saw blue coloured Maruti 800 Car standing there. A lorry was going from Beniapukur side and could not pass because of the blockade of road by the Maruti Car. Two persons were sitting in the front seat. He asked those persons to make way for the lorry to avoid jam. The Maruti vehicle number was BRK 4907. After about ten minutes, a black coloured Motorbike came to the side of the Maruti vehicle. Two persons got down from the bike with a cricket bat cover having something inside it. One of them boarded the Maruti Car by saying 'Insa Alla Kum Ho Gaya'. Both the car and the bike left the place. The Motorcycle was having registration number being W.B. 01 P-2144. At about 9:00 a.m. he heard the news of American Centre shoot out. He apprehended that the morning incident witnessed by him might have some co-relation and hence, informed Shale Babu, a police inspector known to him working at Lal Bazar.
On August 29, 2002 the learned Sessions Judge framed the charges against all the accused including the appellants above named under Sections 121, 121-A, 122, 120-B, 302, 333, 467, 468 and 471 of the Indian Penal Code as also under Sections 25(1 A), 27(2) and 27(3) of the Arms Act read with Section 120-B of the Indian Penal Code.
3. A.2. PRELUDE A.2.1. INTRODUCTION The appellants, herein, are Aftab Ansari (hereinafter referred to as Aftab), Jamiluddin Nasir (hereinafter referred to as Nasir), Musarrat Hussain (hereinafter referred to as Boby), Sakir Akhtar (hereinafter referred to as Rohit), Hasrat Alam (hereinafter referred to as Hasrat), Rehan Alam (hereinafter referred to as Monti) and Adil Hassan (hereinafter referred to as Adil).
4. A.2.2. E-MAIL On January 19, 2002 Jamiluddin Nasir sent an E-mail to a person having I.D. Aaa Mere 7 @ Yahoo.Co.In. informing that he was taking up a new work and asked the addressee to pray for him so that he could achieve success. On January 20, 2002 Nasir again sent another E-mail to the same person by saying that next day would be his opening day and asked the person to pray to God for his success. On the next day January 21, 2002 the person having I.D. Aaa Mere 7 replied to
