Kandahar Incident: Real Culprit is Away From Clutches of Law Even After 22 Years

The withdrawal of the Taliban in Afghanistan and a new round of bloodshed have blown our minds. The horrific scenes that were taken hostage and landed in Kandahar are again looming before our eyes
Image Credit: Amar Ujala
Image Credit: Amar Ujala

The withdrawal of the Taliban in Afghanistan and a new round of bloodshed have blown our minds. The horrific scenes that were taken hostage and landed in Kandahar are again looming before our eyes. Two decades ago, Indian Airlines flight IC-814 was taken hostage in the air by terrorists. At that time also Afghanistan was occupied by the Taliban. To save the lives of the passengers aboard the plane, the Indian government had to bow down to the terrorists and had to release three dreaded terrorists lodged in Indian jails.

Even after 22 years, the criminal is away from the clutches of the law

Those criminals of India are still away from the clutches of law even after 22 years. Right now only one conspirator is in jail. In the year 2000, the CBI had made 10 people accused of murder, criminal conspiracy and under the Arms Act, but only three of them were charge-sheeted. All three were tried and two of them were acquitted of most of the charges.

Three terrorists roaming freely

The remaining seven accused, including the five kidnappers, were Pakistanis, who are still on the declared terrorist list of Indian agencies. Three terrorists, Masood Azhar, Umar Sheikh, and Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar, who were released in exchange for the passengers, are roaming freely even today. The CBI's appeal in the Supreme Court six years ago against the release of an 'accomplice' of the Kandahar incident, is still pending. The same is the case with the petition filed by the convict against the life sentence of the special CBI court in Patiala in 2008. The sentence was also challenged in the High Court which was upheld by the Punjab and Haryana High Court in 2014.

Seven of the 10 perpetrators of the Kandahar incident were Pakistanis. The code names of the five hijackers were Chief, Burger, Doctor, Bhola, and Shankar. The passengers of the hijacked plane had told the court that terrorists code-named Chief and Burger threatened them with revolvers and grenades, while 'Doctor' showed a knife, 'Shankar' with grenades, and 'Bhola' with revolvers. Was.

Why do abductors escape the law?

The terrorists had booked seat numbers 3A and 2B in the business class of the flight in the name of Sheikh AA and Qazi SA respectively. At the same time, seat numbers 8C, 23G, and 19G in economy class were booked in the names of ZI Mistry, RG Verma, and SA Sayeed respectively. They were all terrorists. The then Joint Director of CBI, ML Sharma told The Economic Times (ET), "There are clear reasons behind the five Pakistani kidnappers being ousted from the clutches of the law." However, his Indian comrades were punished appropriately. One of them was convicted of conspiracy to hijack a plane and sentenced to life imprisonment. He is still behind bars.

Five masked terrorists hijacked the plane

Indian Airlines flight IC-814 took off from Kathmandu airport at 4 pm on 24 December 1999 carrying a total of 179 passengers, including 24 foreign passengers and 11 crew members. After 45 minutes in the air, when the plane came to the Varanasi Air Traffic Control Range, it was hijacked by five masked terrorists. After landing the plane in Amritsar, Lahore, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the hijackers took it to Kandahar in Afghanistan. Captain Devi Saran, one of the pilots of that plane, told the court that when the plane landed at Kandahar airport, there were six people in Kabuli disguise. In his hand were other lethal weapons including rocket launchers.

Dreaded terrorists had to leave to save lives

After several rounds of talks with the terrorists, then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led Government of India decided to release the three dreaded terrorists in jail in exchange for the passengers. The hijackers who killed Rupin Katyal on board the plane got off the plane in Kandahar. On January 20, 1999, the CBI had registered a case against 10 accused under the murder, conspiracy, and the Prevention of Kidnapping of Arms Act. Keep in mind that since the NIA was formed in the year 2008, at that time only the CBI was used to investigate terrorist incidents.

Chargesheet filed in six months

Six months later, the CBI filed a charge sheet against three accused Abdul Latif Momin, Dilip Kumar Bhujel, and Bhupal Man Damai alias Yusuf Nepali. The special CBI court in Patiala framed charges against the three accused in April 2001 and the trial took seven years to complete. He was convicted by the trial court in February 2008. The CBI had appealed to the Punjab and Haryana High Court to give a death sentence to Momin.

On the other hand, the three convicts challenged the order of the lower court in the High Court. Six years later, in February 2014, the High Court rejected Momin's demand for capital punishment and upheld his life sentence. However, the High Court acquitted two other accused.

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