Bombay High Court Lifts Stay On Trial Against Abu Jundal In 26/11 Mumbai Terror Attacks Case

Clearing the decks for the second phase of trial in the 26/11 Mumbai Terror Attacks case, the Bombay High Court on Monday (November 3) set aside a special court's order which had in 2018 stayed the trial against Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal, the alleged handler of the 10 Pakistani terrorists who had entered the city.

Single-judge Justice RN Laddha quashed and set aside the special court's 2018 order and paved way for commencement of trial against Jundal.

"After elaborate arguments, today the Bombay High Court pronounced a detailed judgment allowing the petition and quashing the order passed by the session court in favour of Abu Jundal paving way for the trial in 26/11 terror attack case commencing," Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh confirmed.

A detailed copy of the order is yet to be made available.

Notably, in the first phase of the case's trial, the special court had convicted Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab and handed out death sentence to him. It had also acquitted two suspects in the case.

As against Jundal, the trial was stayed after he sought certain documents pertaining to his arrest in 2012. While Jundal claimed to have been 'picked up' by the Delhi Police from Saudi Arabia, the police through Solicitor General Tushar Mehta assisted by ASG Singh and advocate Dhirendra Pratap Singh, maintained that he was only arrested outside the Delhi Airport on his arrival in the country.

In his application before the special court, Jundal sought the travel related documents arguing that the same were vital for his defence and thus invoked section 91 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) seeking production of the said documents to show that he was arrested from his place in Saudia Arabia. The special court too ordered the Indian Authorities - the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Ministry of External Affairs and also the Delhi Police to furnish the said documents.

Subsequently, the authorities moved the Bombay High Court challenging the order of the special court.

According to the prosecution, Jundal is a dreaded and an international terrorist who has trained Kasab and others who entered Mumbai illegally via sea route. He even trained them in pronouncing Bombay-style Hindi and also acquainted them with the geography of the city.

It was Jundal who was handling all the terrorists via satellite phone while sitting in Pakistan, the prosecution has maintained.