Seven Afghan nationals get life term for trespassing into India

Jodhpur : A court today sentenced 7 Afghan nationals to life imprisonment for trespassing into India allegedly with arms and ammunition in 1997.

All of them were arrested in October, 1997, by the Indian Army in Kupwara sector of Jammu and Kashmir.

The hearing in the matter, which was taking place in J&K, was transferred to Jodhpur sessions court following the shifting of the accused to Jodhpur central jail in 2008.

The sessions court later transferred the case to the court of ACJM (SC/ST cases) in July 2010, where the hearing of the case had been going on since then.

The court had completed the hearing in the case last year and listed the matter for pronouncement of the order on 11 July, 2011. But the court amended the charges on the day instead of pronouncing the order and the hearing resumed again.

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Magistrate Anoop Kumar Saxena sentenced all the seven to life imprisonment convicting them under sections 121, 121 A, 122 and 123 of Ranveer Penal Code (J&K), section 14 of Foreigners Act and section 25 read with section 7 of Arms Act.

Amicus curie Manish Vyas, appointed by the court for these nationals, said the order can be challenged as neither any evidence was produced before the court in support of the charges under Ranveer Penal Code nor any arms were ever produced before the court to prove that they are militants.
    
 

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