Custodial death: Police officers, prosecution pulled up for delay in trial

There is no concrete progress despite repeated notices in the 2008 case, says Mumbai Court

A Mumbai Court on Tuesday pulled up the police officers and the prosecution for “failing to proceed with the trial against police officers despite repeated notices and letters” in the custodial death of in 2008.

The case dates back to 2008, when 27-year-old Yunus, who worked in Dubai as a software engineer, visited his family in India in December 2002. He was holidaying at his hometown in Parbhani, when a bomb ripped through a BEST bus in Ghatkopar, killing two persons and injuring over 50. He was picked up by the Ghatkopar police in connection with the blast and was remanded in police custody under the repealed Prevention of Terrorism Act. Eyewitnesses had said Yunus vomited blood for three days and then died in custody.

After continuous efforts made by Yunus’s mother Aasiya Begum Dhiraj Mirajkar, the third prosecutor in the case was appointed in November 2015. However, on April 17, 2018, the Maharashtra government “cancelled his appointment as a special public prosecutor (SPP)”.