The Bombay High Court granted bail to Faizal Hasamali Mirza, an alleged Lashkar-e-Taiba operative accused of travelling to Pakistan for terror training, citing his extended pre-trial custody. The court ruled prolonged custody without trial violated constitutional rights, granting bail to a man accused of terror links and emphasising the principle of “bail is the rule, jail is the exception.”
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MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court granted bail to Faizal Hasamali Mirza, who has been accused of being linked to the terrorist organization Lashkar-e-Taiba and allegedly traveling to Pakistan for terror training.
The court made this decision considering the long time he spent in custody before his trial.
Mirza was arrested in May 2018 by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) after receiving information from the Kolkata Special Task Force. It was alleged that Farooque Devadiwala, a relative of Mirza and a known associate of underworld figure Dawood Ibrahim, helped Mirza with travel arrangements to Dubai and Karachi.
These arrangements reportedly included financial assistance and airline tickets.
Later in 2018, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) took over the case. This led to new charges and an investigation that has continued for over six years.
The NIA informed the court through its attorneys Sandesh Patil and Chintan Shah that they had examined 25 witnesses in the case so far, while 48 witnesses were still waiting to testify. The delays were attributed to the heavy workload of the trial court, which is handling 12 time-sensitive cases simultaneously.
Mirza’s legal team, consisting of Mateen Shaikh, Sharif Shaikh, and Muskan Shaikh, argued that the prolonged custody violated his fundamental right to a speedy trial under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution.
A division bench of Justices Bharati Dangre and Manjusha Deshpande reviewed the extended period of Mirza’s custody and concluded that granting bail was a more just approach than keeping him detained indefinitely.
The bench remarked,
“It is a well-known principle in law that justice hurried is justice buried.”
The court acknowledged that due to the large number of pending witnesses and the workload of the trial court, the case would not be resolved soon. Therefore, Mirza was granted bail with specific conditions.
Bail Conditions
- The court imposed strict conditions to ensure Mirza complies with all legal procedures during the trial.
- Mirza was directed to provide a personal bond of Rs. 50,000.
- He was also required to produce one or more sureties of the same amount.
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