A school teacher accused of terror activities & seeking to appear for law exams has been granted relief by the Bombay HC. For every examination he appeared for, he was asked to pay an escort fee of Rs 21,900 by the Senior Police Inspector (Protection). The High Court has now allowed him to appear for his papers by paying a basic charge of around Rs 300 as interim relief.

Mohammed Raisuddin, 37, was arrested in Aug 2016 by the state Anti-Terrorism Squad from Hingoli district for alleged links to terrorist outfit Daesh’s Parbhani module. The case was later transferred to the National Investigating Agency (NIA) & Raisuddin is currently being tried in a special NIA court in Mumbai.

Lodged in Arthur Road Central Prison, he was granted permission by the NIA court to travel around 25 km to & from Anjuman-I-Islam’s Barrister AR Antulay College of Law for his exams. A day before the exams, on Feb 6, the Senior Police Inspector (Protection) passed an order directing him to deposit Rs 83,976 as escort fee (Rs 20,994 per day for four visits).

Left with no option, Raisuddin deposited Rs 20,994 on two occasions for appearing for examination on Feb 7 & Feb 10. He then approached the High Court through his lawyers Mubin Solkar & Bukhari Rahim & his case was urgently listed for hearing on Feb 11. Solkar argued that he was unable to procure more money for his next two papers scheduled on Feb 12 & 14 & therefore approached the court, challenging the payment conditions.

While the prosecution said that the charges were based on a circular issued by the Home Department of Govt of Maharashtra on Jan 3, 2000, Raisuddin argued through his lawyers that the circular was specifically for the police protection cost & therefore not applicable to an undertrial prisoner like him.

The High Court bench granted ad-interim relief on Feb 11& called for the state circular the next day. While the state consented to Raisuddin appearing for the exam by paying basic travel allowance of Rs 12 per km & vehicle charges (around Rs 300 per visit), they sought to file a detailed affidavit justifying the charges.

A division bench of Justices Ranjit More & Surendra Tavade observed, “Prima facie, we find that the same can't be made applicable to the facts & circumstances of the present case.”

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