High Court grants bail to Khagragarh blast accused

Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court on Friday granted bail to a man who was accused in the Khagragarh blast.

The petitioner Abdul Kalim alias Azad was arrested by the Special Task Force of Kolkata Police in 2016 for allegedly being a member of the banned Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB). Praying for bail at the bench of Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice Gaurang Kanth, his lawyer said he is in custody for more than eight years and there is no possibility of the trial concluding in near future. The state’s counsel submitted that the petitioner was sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment in the 2014 Khagragarh blast case.

The petitioner’s lawyer submitted that the period of sentence awarded in the previous conviction has come to an end and he is entitled to concurrent running of the sentence with the said period in the event he is convicted in the present case.

The court noted that the allegation was serious and relates to Azad’s membership of a banned organisation. The court said that no overt act has, however, been attributed to the petitioner and his complicity to the offences is primarily based on an uncorroborated statement of a co-accused.

Court observed that the petitioner has already served sentence in another case and is entitled to seek concurrent running of the two terms of imprisonment even if he is convicted in the present case. Observing that there is no possibility of conclusion of the trial in the near future, the bench granted bail to Azad who was asked to stay within the jurisdiction of Kolkata and South 24 Parganas districts and report to the officer in-charge of the state STF once a week.