KOLLAM: The Supreme Court will on Friday consider setting up a special court to try Abdul Nasser Maudany, who has completed five years as an undertrial prisoner in Bangalore.
The Karnataka government has intervened at various stages delaying the trial of Maudany, who is an accused in the 2008 Bangalore blast case.
Maudany, who was arrested on August 11, 2010, had earlier submitted a plea before the Supreme Court requesting the completion of trial within three months.
In response, a senior advocate for Karnataka informed the Supreme Court in October 2014 that it would take four months to complete it. The case was then with a court in the Parappana Agrahara jail complex.
As the case neared completion by March, Karnataka government insisted on moving the case to the NIA court as it was listed as a scheduled offence.
This move, according to sources close to Maudany, was intended to delay the case as the High Court had appointed a trial court instead of the NIA court in 2011, when the discharge petition was filed.
Also an NIA court was not constituted in the state at that time. In 2012, it was constituted and the state refused to shift the case to it even during the time when a bail plea was filed, sources told DC.
As the case dragged on, it was shifted to NIA court in Bangalore city. The formalities for shifting the case to the NIA court took much time, including the procurement of notification from the Central government.
At the NIA court, the first judge who heard the case was removed and a new one was appointed, sources said. Much time was also taken for issuing the notification to change the judge. This judge informed the High Court that it would take two years to complete the trial.
Maudany approached the SC demanding to consider the case at the earliest or giving permission to be on bail to stay in Kerala.
The judge postponed the case for two months. Meanwhile, an interim bail was granted to Maudany in June this year to visit his ailing mother.
The case was again postponed for two weeks. The Supreme Court recently suggested a special court to consider the case and has sought the opinion of the Karnataka government on the issue.
