The Mumbai Police have approached the Union Home Ministry to serve the court proclamation orders via Interpol against six absconding accused, including Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) founders Hafiz Saeed and Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, setting the stage to try them in absentia for their role in the 26/11 terror attacks.
The police, represented by special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam, submitted on Friday an interim report on the proclamation order issued in July this year against the absconding accused for initiating the process for trial in absentia. Section 356 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023, mandates full criminal trials in absentia for proclaimed offenders, who have absconded to evade trial and where there is no immediate prospect of arrest.
“We have written to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) for taking necessary steps in serving the proclamation order, through Interpol, against the accused residing in Pakistan,” Nikam told the special court hearing terror cases.
The court conducting trial in the 26/11 attacks case had issued the proclamation orders against Saeed, Lakhvi and other absconding accused Sajid Mir, Abu Alqama, Asim alias Abu Qahafa, and Major Abdur Rehman Pasha, all Pakistani nationals.
