The Madras High Court today refused to hear a petitioner who opposed the plea for premature release of Al-Umma leader S A Basha, serving life term in cases relating to the serial blasts in Coimbatore in 1998 which killed 60 persons.
A division bench comprising Justices Rajiv Shakder and N Sathishkumar in their order said the petition for impleadment was devoid of merit.
The petitioner K Gopinath, an advocate and general secretary of Hindu Munnetra Kazhagam, had submitted that the habeas corpus petition filed by Mubeena, daughter of Basha, was not maintainable.
He contended that a number of common people were killed in the bomb blasts.
He submitted that Basha was the perpetrator of the serial blasts, which took place ahead of BJP leader L K Advani's campaign meeting.
Basha was arrested in 1991 in connection with a murder case by Coimbatore City police for offences punishable under Section 120-B, 302 and 148 IPC and remanded to judicial custody. The trial court awarded life imprisonment to him in the case.
He was also arrested in connection with the 1998 serial bomb blasts cases. The Sessions Court had on August 1, 2007, convicted him and sentenced him to life imprisonment.
Basha's daughter had in her plea contended that the sentences were ordered to run concurrently with the previous conviction in which he was also awarded life imprisonment.
She referred to a scheme announced by the Tamil Nadu Government with regard to premature release of life convicts, who had completed 20 years of actual imprisonment on humanitarian grounds under Article 161 of the Constitution.
Mubeena said her father was eligible to be considered for the premature release under the government scheme as Basha had completed more than 22 years of imprisonment.
"My father is an aged prisoner and has completed 77 years of age," she submitted while seeking Basha's release.
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