The Bombay high court (HC) recently gave the divisional commissioner eight days to decide on a parole application made by ISI mole Javed Mozawala, who has been sentenced to seven years' rigorous imprisonment by a trial court, with an appeal pending in the high court.
A division bench of Justices V M Kanade and Anuja Prabhudessai, while directing the authority, said, "If the competent authority does not take the decision within the stipulated period, the petitioner is at liberty to move the court again."
In his parole application filed through advocate Farhana Shah, Mozawala has challenged the authority's decision to reject his previous parole application in June. He said that he needs a month's parole to attend to his wife, who is suffering from several ailments. He also said that his wife and two minor children were alone, and that his 70-year-old mother was the only elder in the house. Therefore, as a husband, he cannot shun his duties towards his family, in spite of being in prison.
Additional public prosecutor K V Saste informed the court that the latest medical complications were not considered by the authority as a medical certificate was not submitted to it. Thus, in the wake of the new developments, those can be considered. The court then directed the authority consider the new medical certificate and allow Mozwalla to submit more case papers of his wife.
Mozawala was arrested on December 10, 2010, and booked under relevant sections of the Official Secrets Act. The trial court accepted the prosecution's claim that 21 pictures of vital installations found on him were to be handed over to Pakistani diplomats allegedly linked with the ISI.
In his appeal, Mozawala has claimed that the trial judge erred while appreciating material on record. The appeal also says that the prosecution's case is built on reasonable doubt, as they were unable to prove that the pictures seized were taken by him.
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