 NEW DELHI: Lawyers in the Utter Pradesh city of Faizabad are refusing to represent the five alleged planners of a suicide attack on the makeshift temple in Ayodhya, leaving their trial in limbo.
"I ain't sayin' nuttin' widdout me mout'piece!"
"Shuddup. You ain't got no mout'piece!" |
The five - Irfan Khan, Asif Iqbal, Aziz, Nasim and Shakil - were arrested last year on charges of supplying weapons and SIM cards and offering shelter to the five suicide bombers who were killed in the attack on July 5, 2005. The Faizabad Bar Association adopted a resolution that its members would not defend the accused. “We thought helping the accused persons in the case would amount to betraying the nation. We still stick to this,” said Amarnath Mishra, an advocate in Faizabad. A lawyer from Delhi had arrived in Faizabad to argue their case last year, but had to beat a hasty retreat from the railway station as local lawyers staged a protest against him as soon he stepped off the train.
"I'm here to represent the — "
"Beat it."
"— alleged planners — "
"We said beat it."
"— of the suicide attack — "
"Big Mukkerjee! Rip his arms off!"
"Ummm... What time's the next train back to Delhi?" |
Last month, an advocate from Kashmir who had arrived to fight the case also left after he was allegedly manhandled.
"I'm here to... Aaaaargh!"
"Big Mukkerjee! Give him his arm back. The train's about to leave!" |
With the legal battle so far restricted to the routine production of the accused from Naini Jail in Allahabad, and then their return, the district administration is thinking of shifting the trial to a neighbouring district. But Faizabad lawyers have reportedly asked their peers in neighbouring districts also to keep away from the trial.
"So, y'see, we wants yez to stay away from the trial."
"Right. Uhhh... Is that Big Mukkerjee?"
"Yeah."
"He's certainly... ummm... big." |
| "Wingtips, don't fail me now!" |
While Irfan is from Delhi, the others were arrested in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir. They have been charged under sections 153 A (promoting communal enmity) and 153 B (causing prejudice against national integration) of the Indian Penal Code and various sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. The accused last March requested that their cases be transferred from Faizabad as no advocate was willing to plead for them. Even the courtÂ’s amicus curiae, NK Singh, said the Faizabad Bar Association had not given him permission to appear on behalf of the accused.
"So where yez want the case transferred?"
"New Zealand?" |
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