New Delhi:The Uttar Pradesh government on Friday assured the Supreme Court that augmentation of security of gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari inside the Banda jail, if needed.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing Umar Ansari, contended before the apex court that the petitioner’s father was convicted in the murder case of BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai. He said that out of eight accused, four have already been shot down and emphasized that there is a genuine threat perception in Mukhtar Ansari’s case. “There is danger to his life,” said Sibal, while adding that one of the accused was shot dead while he was being produced in a courtroom.
Additional Solicitor General K M Nataraj opposed the plea for the transfer of Mukhtar Ansari, a multiple-time former MLA from Mau in Uttar Pradesh. Nataraj submitted that Ansari was sent to Banda jail on the orders of the Supreme Court. Nataraj sought time to seek instructions on the plea.
After hearing submissions, a bench comprising justices Hrishikesh Roy and Sanjay Karol noted that the concern raised in the petition filed by Umar Ansari, son of Mukhtar Ansari, is the safety and security of his father even within the precincts of the jail.
The bench further noted that on the plea for transfer of the detenue outside of UP, ASG prays for time to seek instructions. “Additional Solicitor General K M Nataraj assures that augmentation of security if needed, will be done to ensure that no harm is caused to him (Mukhtar),” said the bench while posting the matter for hearing on January 16. The apex court was hearing a plea by Umar seeking a direction to transfer his father to any prison outside Uttar Pradesh.
Umar’s plea contended that anti-social elements in the state have been emboldened enough to commit murders within full public view and moreover, on live television, in the presence of media and the police such as in the case of Atiq Ahmad. “It is clear that there is an emerging pattern in these custodial killings where persons belonging to the political opposition are the main targets”, said the plea.
Umar’s plea claimed that he is concerned for his father’s life and he has been constrained to approach the apex court with the sole aim of protecting the life of his father. “As per the information received from reliable sources within the police establishment, the persons who have been hired to assassinate the Petitioner’s father shall be arrested by the police or summoned on remand in some petty crime, produced before the court and then remanded to judicial custody. Then, they shall be taken to Banda Jail where the Petitioner’s father is currently lodged”, said the plea.
“This shall give the said persons the desired proximity to the Petitioner’s father. Thereafter, these hired killers will be provided access to arms inside jail and an opportunity by way of a lapse in security systems that they can take advantage of through complicit jail officials. The standard mode of operation is to give the attack the color of a fight between the inmates to give the entire incident the misleading cover of a ‘gang-war’”, added the plea.
Also read:'Indira Gandhi couldn’t be protected….’, SC on plea for shifting gangster politician Mukhtar Ansari to jail outside UP
