Deposit Rs.10,000 to meet dying mother, court orders terror accused

A special court here ordered an accused in the July 2006 Mumbai serial train blasts case to deposit Rs.10,000 if he wanted to visit his ailing mother with an escort, his lawyer said Monday.

The accused, Mohammed Sajid M. Ansari, who is booked under the dreaded Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), had filed a plea seeking four weeks' interim bail to visit and care for his dying mother.

MCOCA Special Judge Y. D. Shinde rejected Ansari's application on ground that there is no such provision for bail or interim bail under the law (MCOCA).

However, granting relief, Shinde said that the accused could deposit an amount of Rs.10,000 with the court and visit his mother for six hours Tuesday at a hospital in suburban Jogeshwari where she is being treated.

Ansari had pleaded in his interim bail application that his mother was unconscious and virtually on her death bed. Whenever she regained consciousness, she asked to meet her son who is in jail, said his lawyer, Shahid N. Ansari of NGO Jamiat Ulama-e-Maharashtra (AM).

The lawyer said that since the accused could not afford to collect the money, the NGoarranged to deposit the entire amount before the court and he will visit his mother Tuesday with a police escort team.

Incidentally, lawyer Ansari said that last year, the accused Ansari's sister had died and though he was permitted to attend her funeral, he could not make it since the police escort team was delayed.