Govt submits guidelines for deposition of NSG commandos

The Centre today submitted the guidelines before the Bombay High Court regarding the deposition of National Security Guards (NSG) commandos in the 26/11 terror attacks case.

Following this, a division Bench, consisting of Justices J N Patel and Amjad Sayed, reserved its order till tomorrow, on a plea moved by the Centre, challenging the designated court's decision to summon NSG commandos to depose in the ongoing trial. The Government, in the guidelines, stated that the depositions of the commandos should be via video conferencing and their names should not be revealed.

The Guidelines said the commandos should not be asked about their secret tactics used to handle the terror attack.

Earlier, during the hearing of the plea, the bench, in its oral order, said the defence and prosecution in the case would not question the commandos on their tactics used to handle the terror attack and would only ask limited questions.

The Court had also said the state had to obtain the High Court's permission before calling further commandos as witness, except the three summoned by the Court.

Additional Solicitor General Darius Khambatta, who had appeared on behalf of the Central Government, strongly opposed the designated court's order on the grounds that the deposition of the commandos may reveal certain facts which would be used by terrorist groups for other attacks. Designated Judge M L Tahilyani, who is conducting the trial, had summoned three NSG commandos -- Lt Col Rakesh Kumar Sharma, Major Ravindra Prakash and Captain Anil Jakhad, who were part of the team that stormed the Taj Mahal Palace, Hotel Oberoi Trident and Nariman House during the terror strikes, to testify regarding the operations carried out by them.

-- (UNI) -- 05BY23.xml

Viewer's Comment

Comments Not Available

More Stories