Yunus was a 2002 Ghatkopar blast suspect. THE BOMBAY High Court on Tuesday asked the lawyer of petitioner Asiya Begum to suggest names of lawyers for the appointment of a special public prosecutor (SPP) for the custodial death trial of her son Khwaja Yunus in 2003. Yunus was a 2002 Ghatkopar blast suspect. A division bench of Justice Prasanna B Varale and Justice Shriram M Modak was hearing a petition filed by Asiya Begum challenging the government’s decision to remove SPP Dhiraj Mirajkar, appointed to represent the state, from the trial.
The court was told that the state had removed Mirajkar in September 2015 as he was unwilling to continue.
On September 22 last year, senior counsel Mihir Desai, representing Begum, had said that Mirajkar was appointed as SPP on September 2, 2015, but the state government revoked his appointment and removed him. The removal was prompted after Mirajkar moved a plea in the trial court seeking to make four more policemen stand trial. The government had earlier refused to sanction prosecution of these officers.
Advocate General Ashutosh Kumbhakoni for state government told the bench that when he had personally communicated with Mirajkar nearly one-and-a-half years ago to know whether he was ready to continue to appear as SPP, he (Mirajkar) declined. Desai submitted that petitioner is fighting a legal battle to attain justice for nearly two decades and “despite stiff resistance from police and executive, an FIR was filed in the matter due to HC’s intervention and SPP was appointed. “As long as he was a police mouthpiece, it was fine (for prosecution) but as soon as he starts working independently, he is removed without assigning any reasons,” Desai said.
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