Man serving lifer for murder granted bail

The Bombay high court granted bail to an accused serving life imprisonment awarded to him by a lower court in the 2010 Dhobi Talao murder case in which jewellery shop owner Alpesh Jain was murdered and booty of almost `1 crore was recovered later. A division bench of Justice P.V. Hardas and P.N. Deshmukh was hearing the bail application of Heyaz Mansoori, convicted under Section 396 (dacoity with murder) and Section 120(B), among other relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code, Arms Act and Bombay Police Act. The court, before allowing the bail application, heard the arguments put forth by Mansoori’s lawyer advocate Naima Shaikh. The court observed that there was no evidence to convict the accused under Section 396 (life imprisonment). This observation of the high court came about after Ms Shaikh told the court that a witness was unable to identify Mansoori during the identification parade, as well as the trial stage in the lower court. In addition, the court also observed that recovery of weapons couldn’t be corroborated with the present crime. According to the lawyer, Mansoori has already served three-and-a-half years in jail. Ms Shaikh also argued that two other accused in the crime were granted bail on the grounds that they were convicted for 10 years and had undergone three years in prison. The court, while allowing the bail application, directed that a bail bond of `20,000 be furnished by the accused and said that he shall visit the police station once every three months. The additional sessions judge, while awarding life sentence to Mansoori and other accused, had on November 11, last year, observed, “I do not think that the accused persons deserve any leniency. The offence was pre-planned. In view of the nature of offences and the manner in which it was committed and the need of the society, the individual circumstances personally to the accused like his old parents, wife, small children, only earning member in the family cannot be considered.”