By Ashraf Padanna/Thiruvananthapuram
The release of jailed People’s Democratic Party leader Abdul Nasar Madani has been delayed further as two Supreme Court judges hearing his bail plea had divergent views.His followers in Kerala were expecting a favourable verdict after a judge last week made an observation that Madani had every right for bail as he was not in good health. Judges Markandey Katju and Gyansudha Misra left it to Chief Justice S H Kapadia to list the case before another bench. The Kerala leader was imprisoned over the 2008 Bangalore blasts in which a woman was killed. He was arrested from his headquarters in Kollam district by the Karanataka police nine months ago, two years after he was acquitted in the Coimbatore blasts after spending nearly a decade in a Tamil Nadu jail. The Karnataka police claim Madani was the mastermind behind the blasts and his accomplices were directly involved in similar blasts in cities like Ahmedabad and Surat. However, two of the witnesses withdrew their statements against him saying they were made to sign a document in Kannada language which they could not read or write.Another witness who is an activist of Karnataka’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party reportedly said he saw the PDP leader only when the Special Investigation team brought him to the location, contradicting his statement to the police that he saw him in the company of other conspirators at a farm in Coorg. The only evidence left with the police now is the details of cell phone calls made by the blasts’ kingpin Thadiyantavide Naseer, a former associate of Madani whom the police describe as the South Indian commander of the Lashkar-e-Taiba. K K Shahina, a woman journalist who exposed the police attempts to fabricate evidence, is now facing charges of intimidating witnesses. Katju said there was no sufficient evidence to deny Madani bail. Madani’s telephonic contact with other accused before and after the blast could not be treated as evidence since the details of the conversations were not available. Mishra said there was sufficient evidence pointing to his involvement and he was being implicated not just on the basis of the inflammatory speeches he made but his constant contact with the other plotters of the blasts. If Madani has to be granted bail, then the entire criminal procedure code should be changed and an accused should not be arrested until he is convicted.