Defence lawyers in the Mulund blast case on Thursday argued before the special Prevention of Terrorist Act (POTA) court that the process of reformation of the convicts has already begun and they are not a threat to society. Therefore, they should be shown leniency and given minimum possible punishment.
Advocate Mubin Solkar on behalf of Atif Mulla argued that the special POTA court has absolute power and it can even give less strict punishment than the ones provided under the law and requested the court to release him for whatever punishment he has already undergone.
Mulla has been convicted under The Arms Act also and it provides for a minimum of five years of imprisonment and according to advocate Solkar, Mulla has already undergone two years and eight months in jail. He also told the special judge P.R. Deshmukh that he has an ailing son, father, mother and grandmother to look after. “He has a brother but he has deserted the family because of the terror tag and now Mulla has to look after the family all by himself,” said advocate Solkar.
According to him, Mulla’s father was diagnosed with cancer at stage four and doctors had said it could not be cured at this stage. However Mulla, who is has an MBA and was working in a pharmaceutical company, did thorough research and got some medicines from the US, which were helpful not only for his own father but also for around 1,000 cancer patients. Currently, he is helping around 500 cancer patients and if he were sent to jail, all these patients would also suffer.
Advocate Sharif Shaik has filed a few applications before the court on behalf of another convict, Muzammil Ansari, who was convicted for planting bombs and could be awarded death penalty. Advocate Shaikh requested the court to call upon the report from a probation officer of jail who would inform the court how was Muzammil’s behaviour in prison and if there is any chance of his reformation.
Another application requested the court to get Muzammil’s psychological test and IQ test done. According to application, due to continuous stay in jail Muzammil has become dull and no purpose would be served by sentencing him to death.
