Mayura Janwalkar
Whether the National Security Guard (NSG) commandos should depose in courts or not, will now be decided by the Bombay high court.
A petition filed by the central government has challenged the decision of the special court to summon NSG commandos to depose in the trial.
Additional solicitor general DJ Khambata mentioned the petition before a division bench of justice JN Patel and justice Amjad Sayed on Tuesday and sought a hearing on Wednesday. "We have served the petition on all the concerned parties and sought an urgent hearing," Khambata said.
The central government has sought a decision from the court stating whether or not it was right for the commandos of the elite squad to depose in court trials. It was for the first time that a court had summoned the NSG to testify before the court in the trial of Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone terrorist captured alive during the 26/11 attacks.
Additional sessions judge ML Tahaliyani who presides over Kasab's trial had summoned three officers of the NSG despite the prosecution's reluctance in examining them in open court. Tahaliyani had said that their examination was necessary in order to prove the charge under section 121 (waging war against the government of India) of the IPC.