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Man seeks bail for father, questions bail for Salman Khan

Mahendra Tank also argued before the court that bail had been granted to even Maya Kodnani, former minister in the Narendra Modi cabinet.

Ahmedabad — The Chief Justice of the Gujarat High Court was left wondering on Friday when a petitioner seeking bail for his father languishing in an Ahmedabad jail in a communal riots case for the past seven years asked why actor Salman Khan was released on bail even after his conviction.

Mahendra Tank also argued before the court that bail had been granted to even Maya Kodnani, former minister in the Narendra Modi cabinet, who has been awarded life term in a similar sensational riots case in which 97 Muslims were killed in 2002.       

Acting Chief Justice V M Sahai also observed in a lighter tone that he wondered how Salman Khan got bail but people in Gulberg Society massacre case were not obliged. He asked the petitioner to approach the regular bench and arranged for a senior lawyer to present his case free of cost. Tank’s father is one of the 61 accused in Ahmedabad’s Gulberg case in which 69 people, including popular Congress leader Ehsan Jafri, were killed in 2002.

He has been lodged in the high-security central jail in Ahmedabad after his arrest in 2008, and his bail petitions have been rejected on several occasions.

While Kodnani, sentenced to 28 years in jail in the Naroda Patiya riot case, was granted bail due to her ill-health, the convictions of Salman Khan, held guilty in black buck poaching and hit-and-run cases, have been suspended by higher courts.

The trial in the Gulberg case has been completed thrice, but no judgement was being passed because of a stay from the Supreme Court.  Gujarat High Court advocate Iqbal Khan told Khaleej Times that an accused could be given bail if the trial continues beyond five years.

mahesh@khaleejtimes.com