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SC rejects Madani's plea to shift Coimbatore blasts case to Kerala

The Supreme Court has held that the convenience for the purposes of transferring a criminal case means the convenience of the prosecution, other accused, the witnesses and the larger interest of the society.

''The convenience of the parties do not necessarily mean the convenience of the petitioners alone, who approach the court on misconceived notions of apprehension,'' the court observed.

The ruling was given yesterday by a division bench comprising Justices K T Thomas and R P Sethi while dismissing the petitions of prime accused Abdul Nasser Madani and some other accused in the 1998 Coimbatore serial bomb blast case seeking transfer of the case from Tamil Nadu to any other sessions court in Kerala allegedly on the ground that fair trial was not possible in Tamil Nadu.

''The present petitions which are totally misconceived are hereby dismissed with the direction that the trial court would expedite the trial and if possible hold trial on day-to-day basis so that the cause of justice is achieved without any further delay,'' the court said.

The bench observed that it cannot lose sight of the statement made on behalf of the Tamil Nadu government that in the Coimbatore central prison, separate cells had been built to accommodate the 168 accused in the case and such a facility is not available elsewhere.

The court noted that the petitioners in the present case had made wild and general allegations of the surcharged atmosphere against a particular community in the whole of the state.

''The state government is responsible for ensuring free, fair and impartial trial to the accused persons not withstanding the nature of the accusation made against them,'' the court added.

On February 14, 1998, Home Minister L K Advani, the then BJP president, was to address an election meeting at 1600 hrs when the whole city of Coimbatore and its suburbs were hit by 12 powerful bomb blasts killing 47 people and injuring 218, apart from causing extensive damage to properties.

UNI

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