Rare instance of witness examination in Kerala High Court as BSNL official examined in terror recruitment case

In a rare move, the Kerala High Court on Tuesday, allowed a witness in the Kashmir terror recruitment case to be examined before the High Court .A Division Bench of Justices K Vinod Chandran and C Jayachandran was considering the appeals filed by the convicted accused and the National Investigation Agency (NIA) against the judgement of a special NIA court which had convicted 13 persons and acquitted 5. Some of the other accused are currently out on bail. Normally, only the evidence produced before the trial court is considered by the High Court in criminal appeals. However, in the instant, the High Court decided to summon a BSNL official who had issued a call record showing communication between the accused and some individuals in Kashmir.The counsel for the convicted appellants argued that the BSNL official had not given the required attestation under Section 65B of the Indian Evidence Act. In response, Assistant Solicitor General S Manu filed a special petition on behalf of the NIA seeking permission to cross-examine the official. By way of an order passed on April 8, the Court allowed the application."Considering the facts of the case and also the decision reported in Arjun Banditiao Khotkar v Kailash Kushanrao Gorantval & Ors., we issue summons to the executant of the Certificate under Section 65B, produced along with memo dated 07.04.2020, to appear before this Court for taking evidence on 19.04.2022, through the e-mail ID furnished in the application submitted by the ASG and also issue copy to the ASG for service," the Court said in its April 8 order. The Court also ordered the accused who are on bail to appear before it in-person. Those in custody were ordered to appear via video conferencing from the prisons in which they are currently incarcerated. Pursuant to that, the BSNL official was examined in the High Court today. The Court recorded the statement of the official and accepted the call record certificate issued by BSNL as additional evidence. .The Kashmir terror recruitment case came to light in 2008 when security forces in Kashmir shot down some suspected terrorists amongst whom were four Kerala youths. The NIA then started investigating into possible organised recruitment of youths from Kerala to Kashmir to take part in terrorist activities. The probe resulted in charges being filed against 20 persons, including suspected Lashker-e-Taiba operative, Thadiyantevida Nazeer and his associate Shafas. Both men were recently acquitted by the High Court in the Kozhikode twin blasts case.