Gujarat HC grants bail to Hyderabad cleric

HYDERABAD: The Gujarat high court on Thursday granted conditional bail to city-based cleric Maulana Abdul Qavi who is an accused in the "larger conspiracy against the state case", popularly known as the DCB 6 case. He was lodged in Sabarmati Central Jail in Ahmedabad.
Maulana Qavi was picked up by security agencies at the airport in Delhi on March 23 before he could start for Deoband, where he was scheduled to attend a meeting to discuss pedagogical issues in madrassas.Those who had arrived to receive him were questioned "thoroughly" before being let off.
Maulana Qavi is the younger brother of noted Islamic scholar Islam Mufti Abdul Mughni Mazhari, who runs a seminary in Saidabad.
According to counsel Irfan Khan Pathan appointed by Jamiat-e-Ulama Hind (JUH), a socio-religious body with a pan-India presence, the court has barred Maulana Qavi from traveling abroad without permission and directed authorities to impound his passport. "The court also directed the counsel to furnish a surety of Rs 50,000 and asked Qavi to report to a specified police station once a month. A written order is expected shortly," Khan said. The court had denied bail to the cleric on two earlier occasions, he added.
While the Gujarat police claimed that the cleric was absconding since 2003, his family and Jamiat-e-Ulama officials maintained that he was very much in the city and had been to Surat 10 months before being picked up in Delhi.
A series of peaceful protest meetings across the city and many parts of the state were organised with many claiming that Qavi was a "quiet and moderate scholar." Further, Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi had alleged that the cleric was arrested on "trumped up" charges. He also claimed that the DK Basu guidelines were not followed.