HC holds German Bakery blast case convict eligible for parole leave

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court last week directed the Divisional Commissioner, Nashik to reconsider a plea for parole leave of 45 days filed by Mirza Himayat Baig, convict in the 2010 German Bakery bomb blast case, to take care of his ailing mother. The court struck down an earlier order that had declared him ineligible for parole leave.
“We find the impugned order totally unjustified,” said the bench of justice Bharati Dangre and justice Manjusha Deshpande while striking down the Divisional Commissioner’s order dated July 31, 2024, holding Baig ineligible for parole in view of Rule 13 of prison rules, under which a prisoner convicted for “terrorist activities” was not eligible for furlough or parole leaves.
Baig is currently serving a life sentence at Nashik Central Prison for his involvement in the bomb blast which killed 17 people and injured at least 60.
The judges reprimanded the divisional commissioner for not taking note of the 2016 judgment of the high court which refused to confirm death sentences handed down to Baig by the trial court in German Bakery blast case and also cleared him of all the charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967. The court maintained his conviction only for the offences punishable under Section 474 (possession of forged document or record) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 5(b) (making or possessing explosives under suspicious circumstances) of the Explosive Substances Act, 1908.
In this backdrop, the high court said, the divisional commissioner could not have held him ineligible for parole leave. “Surprisingly, the Divisional Commissioner, while rejecting the request of the Petitioner, has failed to take into consideration this Judgment…. and wrongly proceeded that his release is barred, as though he was convicted under the provisions of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967,” the bench said.
The judges were also inclined to impose a penalty on the divisional commissioner for “denying a valuable right to the prisoner on a flimsy ground,” especially when the fact that Baig’s mother was seriously ill was ascertained by conducting an inquiry.
The judges said they can “only hope and trust that the high-ranking officers will be conscious of the responsibility cast upon them” and that “the rights of prisoners are not tramped in a casual fashion, as done in the present case.”
Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad had claimed that Yasin Bhatkar and six others including the lone convict Mirza Himayat Baig, and others like Mohsin Choudhary, Riyaz Bhatkal, Iqbal Bhatkal, Faiyaz Kagzi and Zabiuddin Ansari were part of the conspiracy. On February 13, 2010, Baig, Choudhary and Yasin went to Pune from Udgir in Marathwada. The same evening Yasin planted a bomb at the Pune’s famous German Bakery in Koregaon Park. The explosion killed 17 people, including four foreigners, and injured 60 others.