Mumbai (Maharashtra): The Bombay High Court on Monday, September 3 reversed a lower court order that had stopped the trial of Abu Jundal, accused of helping plan the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. Justice RN Ladda cancelled the trial court's order that asked authorities to give documents about Abu Jundal's arrest. Abu Jundal had worked as a handler for the terrorists, including Ajmal Kasab, during the attacks. Justice Ladda said the trial court made a mistake by using Section 91 of the Criminal Procedure Code to demand these documents. He explained that this law doesn't allow courts or accused persons to go on a "fishing expedition" looking for information about an arrest when it has nothing to do with the actual case. The law says documents can only be requested if they are truly needed for the trial. The judge pointed out that the trial has been stuck since 2018 because of this order. He said quick trials are important in serious crimes to ensure justice is served.
The court sided with Delhi Police and the Ministry of External Affairs, who had challenged the order to share travel documents with the accused. Government lawyer Tushar Mehta argued that Abu Jundal was a key planner of the 26/11 attacks who worked with Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists. He said Jundal gave advice, trained the attackers, and directed the operation from Karachi using internet calls. Abu Jundal had asked for various documents like passports, flight records, and immigration papers. The High Court said the trial court gave him these without listening to the government's side first, which was unfair. Mehta argued that Abu Jundal never questioned his arrest before and bringing it up now is too late and irrelevant. He said the documents Abu Jundal wants are only about arrest procedures, not the actual case, and getting them would just delay the trial unnecessarily.
The case concerns the devastating terror attacks that took place in Mumbai in late November 2008. Over a period of four days, a group of ten armed militants launched coordinated assaults on several high-profile locations throughout the city, including luxury hotels, a major railway station, a popular restaurant, and other sites. The attacks resulted in massive casualties with over 160 people killed and hundreds more injured.
According to prosecutors, Abu Jundal trained the terrorists in speaking Hindi and taught them local customs and behaviors so they could pass as Indians during the attacks. Investigators believe his voice was captured in intercepted communications from a control center in Pakistan, where handlers were directing the terrorists in real-time as the attacks unfolded. Jundal was captured in Saudi Arabia in 2012 after Indian intelligence agencies traced him using DNA evidence from his relatives. He was then sent back to India to face charges. Before this case, he had already been convicted and given a life sentence in 2016 for a separate incident involving illegal weapons. The current trial got stuck in 2018 when Jundal requested official documents related to his arrest and deportation from Saudi Arabia. He claimed he was arrested there and brought to India, while authorities maintain he was actually detained at the Delhi airport. The trial court agreed to his request for documents, but the government challenged this decision. The case remained frozen until the Bombay High Court recently overturned that order, allowing the trial to move forward again.
