HC notice on plea seeking 30 days leave for life convict in in Coimbatore serial blasts

The Madras High Court on Wednesday issued notice to the Superintendent of Central Prisons at Coimbatore on a plea seeking 30 days' leave for S A Bhasha, an Al-Umma leader serving life term for the 1998 Coimbatore serial bomb blasts.

A division bench of justices M Sathyanarayanan and M Nirmal Kumar issued the notice and posted the matter for further hearing to April 29.

Bhasha was arrested in 1991 by the Coimbatore city police in connection with a murder case and was remanded in judicial custody. The trial court awarded life imprisonment to him in the case.

He was also arrested in connection with the 1998 serial bomb blasts cases.

The sessions court had sentenced him to life imprisonment in 2007.

According to the plea filed by B Mubeena, Bhasha's daughter, her father was sentenced to life in 2007 and was imprisoned for over 20 years.

He was eligible for ordinary leave under the Tamil Nadu Suspension of sentence rules.

The petitioner said her mother was suffering from continuous ailments and her married sister had undergone surgery and facing some matrimonial problems.

Her father has to settle all the family problems, the petitioner submitted and said a leave of 30 days may be granted to her father.

The plea was filed as her representation to authorities did not evoke any response, the petitioner said.