19 years on, another twist stuns Khwaja Yunus’s mother

We were not consulted Isnrsquot the PP supposed to represent our interestsrdquo asked an upset Asiya BegumSpeaking to midday on the phone from Parbhani the 74yearold mother of Khwaja Yunus couldnrsquot hide her bewilderment and indignation at the latest twist in her 19yearold quest for justice for her sonSoftware engineer Khwaja Yunus was just 27 when he went ldquomissingrdquo from police custody in January 2003 He had been arrested in December 2002 for the Ghatkopar bomb blasts which claimed two livesA CID inquiry into his ldquodisappearancerdquo found that hersquod been tortured to death Fourteen cops were named by the CID as responsible the Maharashtra government sanctioned the prosecution of only four including API Sachin Waze currently in jail for the murder of a businessman in connection with the Antilla caseIn January 2018 when the trial of the four cops accused of killing Yunus began Dr Abdul Matin a coaccused in the same case testified in court that he saw four policemen thrash Yunus till he collapsedThe then Special PP DU Mirajkar immediately made an application seeking to make the four cops named by Dr Matin additional accused in the case Soon after this Mirajkar was removed as Special PPOn Wednesday the newly appointed Special PP in the Khwaja Yunus custodial death case Pradeep Gharat told the court he was planning to withdraw this applicationldquoWe agreed to Gharatrsquos appointment because we heard that Mirajkar was not willing to return as Special PP We wanted the case to go on Already itrsquos taken so longrdquo said Asiya BegumHowever she was surprised that Gharat had not contacted her since his appointment in JuneldquoHe is the government lawyer appointed to protect our interests Shouldnrsquot he discuss the case with us Yes we are in Parbhani but itrsquos not as if we canrsquot come to Mumbai On what basis can he say he wants to withdraw Mirajkarrsquos application We donrsquot want thatrdquoWednesday was Gharatrsquos first appearance in the matter He was appointed after Asiya Begum went to court asking that Mirajkar be reinstated However Mirajkar was unwillingIn an affidavit filed by Asiya Begum in March this year the reason for Mirajkarrsquos unwillingness was spelt out The affidavit contained an email from Mirajkar to Adv Chetan Malee one of Asiya Begumrsquos lawyers In the email Mirajkar revealed that the Maharashtra government was upset with the application he had filed after Dr Matinrsquos testimony They reprimanded him for not taking permission for it They also asked him if he would withdraw the application if he was reappointedMirajkar said he wouldnrsquot Under such circumstances Mirajkar thought it best not to return to the caseOn Wednesday Gharat told the court that the application seeking to make four more cops additional accused had to be withdrawn because the government had not sanctioned their prosecution and the High Court had upheld this decisionHowever when Mirajkar had filed the application hersquod argued that no sanction was needed to prosecute these cops because what Dr Matin had seen them do did not fall in their line of duty Government sanction was needed only when policemen were sought to be prosecuted for the action done in discharge of their dutyldquoWe will oppose Gharatrsquos applicationrdquo Senior counsel Mihir Desai whorsquos represented Asiya Begum from the start told midday ldquoThere is no reason for one PP to withdraw an application made by a previous PP which was based on evidence already recordedrdquoAdvocate Desai said Gharatrsquos move reflected the intention to protect certain seniorlevel police officers which had been evident in the Khwaja Yunus case irrespective of which government had been in power since 2003 The four policemen named by Dr Matin are ACP retired Praful Bhosale known as an ldquoencounter specialistrdquo Senior Inspector Rajaram Vhanmane and inspectors Hemant Desai and Ashok KhotldquoMirajkar filed that application because he was acting independently as a Special PP should He wasnrsquot acting as a mouthpiece of the governmentrdquo said Desai