New Delhi: Uttar Pradesh Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) Abbas Ansari, son of late gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari, fearing an encounter, on Friday (January 31) sought permission in the Supreme Court to appear virtually before trial court proceedings in a case registered under the Gangsters Act.
A bench comprising Justice Surya Kant and Justice N Kotiswar Singh was hearing Abbas’s plea seeking bail in the case in which he is accused of running a gang for financial and other benefits in Chitrakoot district in Uttar Pradesh.
Allow Abbas to appear through video-conferencing in court proceedings, Sibal urged apex court
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Abbas, told the bench that Abbas was virtually appearing before the court from the Kasganj jail, however, the facility was stopped. He urged the court to allow him to appear through video-conferencing in the court proceedings.
“Kindly allow me (Abbas) to appear through video-conferencing in the court proceedings. Nowadays a lot of things happen in between jail and court. People get killed while being taken to court from jail,” Sibbal said, news agency PTI reported.
Apex court asked Ansari to move High Court for video-conferencing facility
The bench, while seeking the response of the Uttar Pradesh government on Ansari’s plea, told Sibal that there were no pleadings made in his plea relating to virtual hearing and asked him to approach the Allahabad High Court with his plea. The bench, in its order said that if Abbas moves the High Court, his plea should be taken up for hearing urgently.
Sibal urged apex court to grant Ansari bail in the case
Sibal also urged the top court to grant Abbas bail in the case, submitting that the High Court dismissed his bail plea in the case, which has identical averments with the case that was quashed by the top court last year.
“I am in jail for one-and-half years in this case. Kindly grant me bail,” Sibal submitted.
The High Court on December 18 last year dismissed Ansari’s bail plea in the case.
